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Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, writer, producer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms The Office (2001–2003), Extras (2005–2007), and Life's Too Short (2011–2013) with Stephen Merchant. He also created, wrote and starred in Derek (2012–2014) and After Life (2019–2022).
In the entertainment industry, sleeper hit refers to a film, television series, music release, video game, or other entertainment product that was unpromising on release but became a surprise success. A sleeper hit may have little promotion or lack a successful launch but gradually develops a fandom following media attention, which in turn increases its public exposure and public interest in the product. As Variety puts it, "A 'sleeper hit' can be defined as the kind of show that catches us by surprise—programs whose popularity grows over time and can ultimately outshine the preordained hits." A sleeper hit often lacks star performers or high production values, but prevails, at times against its own makers' expectations, on the strength of such qualities as narrative, approach, or novelty, as well as market accidents. Sleeper hit films benefit theater owners because the owners keep a larger percentage of money from ticket sales.
Stephen James Merchant is an English comedian, actor, director, and writer. He was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series The Office (2001–2003), and co-writer, co-director, and co-star of both Extras (2005–2007) and Life's Too Short (2011–2013) alongside Ricky Gervais. With Gervais and Karl Pilkington, he hosted The Ricky Gervais Show in its radio, podcast, audiobook, and television formats; the radio version won a bronze Sony Award. He also provided the voice of the robotic "Intelligence Dampening Sphere" Wheatley in the 2011 video game Portal 2. Merchant co-developed the Sky One travel documentary series An Idiot Abroad (2010–2012) and co-created Lip Sync Battle (2015–present).
Mackenzie Crook is an English actor, director and writer. He played Gareth Keenan in The Office, Ragetti in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, Orell in the HBO series Game of Thrones, and the title role of Worzel Gummidge. He is also the creator and star of BBC Four's Detectorists (2014–2022), for which he won two BAFTA awards. He also plays major roles in TV series Britannia, as the opposite leading druids Veran and Harka.
Karl Pilkington is an English presenter, actor, voice-artist, producer and author.
Ashley Jensen is a Scottish actress and narrator. She is best known for her roles as Maggie Jacobs in Extras, Christina McKinney in Ugly Betty (2006–2010), Agatha Raisin in Agatha Raisin (2014–present), and DI Ruth Calder in Shetland (2023–present).
The Office is the original British mockumentary television sitcom first broadcast in the UK on BBC Two on 9 July 2001. Created, written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, it follows the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of the fictional Wernham Hogg paper company. Gervais also starred in the series as central character David Brent.
Kerry Anna Godliman is an English actress and comedian. She has appeared in TV roles in Derek, Bad Move, and After Life.
Life's Too Short is a British mockumentary sitcom, created and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and starring Warwick Davis, about "the life of a showbiz dwarf." Davis plays a fictionalised version of himself, and both Gervais and Merchant appear in supporting roles as themselves. The show began airing on BBC Two on 10 November 2011. Premium cable channel HBO, which co-produced the series with the BBC, has the US rights and aired the series from 19 February 2012.
Diane Morgan is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has portrayed Philomena Cunk on the review programme Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe (2013–2020) and in the mockumentary series Cunk on Britain (2018) and Cunk on Earth (2022). She also played Liz on the BBC Two sitcom Motherland (2016–2022) and Kath in the Netflix dark comedy series After Life (2019–2022), as well as writing and starring in the BBC Two comedy series Mandy (2019–present).
Holli Cara-Rhian Dempsey is an English actress, writer and comedian. On television, she is known for her roles in the ITV drama The Ice Cream Girls (2013), the Channel 4 series Derek (2013–2014), the E4 series The Aliens (2016), and the Hulu series Harlots (2017–2019). Her films include Aaaaaaaah! (2015) and Dad's Army (2016).
Noah Cameron Schnapp is an American actor. He gained recognition for playing Will Byers in the Netflix science fiction horror series Stranger Things. He had a supporting role in Steven Spielberg's historical drama Bridge of Spies (2015) and has voiced Charlie Brown in the animated film The Peanuts Movie (2015).
Joanne Victoria Hartley is an English actress born in Oldham, Lancashire who has appeared in the films This Is England, The Young Victoria, Eddie the Eagle, Slaughterhouse Rulez and Torvill & Dean and in British television series This Is England '86, Not Safe For Work, After Life, Bliss, In My Skin, Sweetheart (2021), and Bank of Dave (2023).
After Life is a British black comedy-drama television series created, written, produced, and directed by Ricky Gervais, who plays lead character Tony Johnson. It premiered on 8 March 2019 on Netflix. The second series premiered on 24 April 2020. The third and final series premiered on 14 January 2022.
Charli Grace D'Amelio is an American social media personality. She was a competitive dancer for over a decade before starting her social media career in 2019, when she began posting dance videos on the video-sharing platform TikTok. She quickly amassed a large following and subsequently became the most-followed creator on the platform in March 2020 until she was surpassed by Khaby Lame in June 2022. With over 151 million followers, she is the second-most-followed-person on TikTok, as of 2024.
Addison Rae Easterling is an American singer-songwriter, actress and dancer. Rae rose to fame on TikTok and has amassed over 88 million followers, making her the fifth most-followed individual on the platform.
Brittany Alexis Tomlinson, known professionally as Brittany Broski, is an American social media personality, YouTuber, and comedian. She initially gained fame after a video of her tasting kombucha for the first time went viral on TikTok in 2019. She signed to United Talent Agency later that year and has since hosted the TikTok-produced podcast For You (2021), the pop culture-focused podcasts Violating Community Guidelines (2022–2023) with Sarah Schauer, The Broski Report (2023–present), and the YouTube talk show Royal Court (2023–present). She has frequently been referred to as one of TikTok's biggest stars and noted for her meme-focused humor.
The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical is a concept album by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear based on season 1 of the Netflix series Bridgerton. They developed the songs on the album on TikTok in early 2021 in a series of live sessions, during which they received and incorporated viewer feedback. Released in September 2021, the album charted on Billboard and elsewhere. It later won the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album and was the first Grammy winner to be developed on TikTok. Barlow and Bear became the youngest nominees and winners ever in their Grammy category.
Ethan David Lawrence is an English actor. He is known for playing the roles of Joe Poulter in the BBC series Bad Education and James in the Netflix black comedy series After Life. Since 2021, he has played various characters in the CBBC children's comedy sketch show Horrible Histories.
Matthew Steven Rife is an American comedian and actor. Rife is best known for his self-produced comedy specials Only Fans (2021), Matthew Steven Rife (2023) and Walking Red Flag (2023), as well as his 2023 Netflix special Natural Selection, and previous recurring role on the sketch improv comedy and rap show Wild 'n Out.
References
- ↑ "Cole Anderson-James says TikTok is way better than his sales job". BBC. 28 July 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
- ↑ Grant, Kirsty (20 January 2022). "After Life 3: How TikTok took a Ricky Gervais fan to Netflix". BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
- ↑ Withers, Emily (27 January 2022). "Netflix After Life 3: The yoga teacher was a salesman until Ricky Gervais spotted his TikToks". Wales Online. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
- ↑ Shepherd, Rebecca (15 January 2022). "Ricky Gervais Casted One Of His Superfans In After Life Series 3". LadBible. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
- ↑ Williams, Rhiannon (4 September 2021). "Cole Anderson-James: Meet the TikTok comedy sensation Ricky Gervais has cast in After Life". i News. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
- ↑ Cremona, Patrick (30 June 2022). "Stars revealed for Murder, They Hope season 2 with Johnny Vegas". Radio Times. Retrieved 25 July 2023.