From The
Sunday Times Travel Magazine February, 2008, issue
Where do you go to get away from it all?
Italy – the last few times I’ve been I’ve stayed on the Amalfi Coast around
Sorrento. I love it. You’ve got to be careful eating in France, things come
with eyes and legs. In Italy, it’s all pizza and pasta.
Are you a beach person?
No. I used to quite like them when I was trying to burn myself into an early
grave in the ’70s. Why did I get all those tans? I get bored too easily now.
I can’t sit still.
You spend a lot of time in the States, what do you love most about it
there?
I’m just fascinated by America. Anything is possible there. I grew up wishing
I was an American Jew – for the comedy and one-liners.
New York or LA: which gets your vote?
No doubt about it: New York. It’s so cosmopolitan. It’s the joint best place
in the world with London. LA just feels like a big studio, whereas in New
York you feel like you’re experiencing culture.
So, London and New York are on a par?
Yeah, I live in London because I love it. When I was small, I always knew
there was something outside Reading. I was a tadpole, but I knew I’d get
back legs. Now, whenever I see a shot of Piccadilly Circus in an old movie,
I think, ‘I know that place’.
What’s the one unmissable NYC experience?
Getting in a yellow cab and fearing for your life! It’s like being in the
dodgems.
Crazy cab drivers aside, would you like to explore more of North America?
I’m actually half-Canadian, but I’ve never been to my neck of the woods, which
is Ontario. There is another place I’d like to see, too – you know, when
films start and there’s a dusty road with one little diner with a flickering
light? Well, there. Where is that? Where are those towns?
Which other places top your list?
Well, I’ve never been to Asia, and I’d like to visit Australia and New
Zealand, but I’m waiting for that flight that takes two hours and catapults
you up into space. I’d love to go to Africa for the wildlife. It would be my
absolute heaven to wake up every morning surrounded by animals. I love them.
Isn’t it incredible that a leopard can drag an antelope up a tree?
Ricky’s new live DVD, Fame, is out now.
If australia was 2 hours away there would be more Americans and English tourists than Austrailians. It is safe, they speak English, their summer is our winter. I been there 3 times in 4 years. Every day of the 52 days that I was there was wonderful.
robert smith, elmhurst, illinois
The place with the dusty roads and the empty, sad diners is called Texas.
LMG, London,
I have just flown from Brisbane to Paris to spend 35 days in France, all those eyes and legs are great, together or not. But the big bonus is seven films on the way over and seven on the way back. Don't wait Ricky for the two hour flight, do it now.
Barry Silver, Gold Coast, Australia.
Barry Silver, Gold Coast, Australia
The problem with France is that it is full of French people. Ricky is an ironic comdian Pierre, being Frenmch you probably don't get the punchline.
Mark, Peterborough, UK
"things come with eyes and legs"? But not usually at the same time Ricky! And I've had some of the best steak in Florence.
Pierre Bernardi, Paris, France
Ricky Gervais is a "comic"? I thought he described himself as a "scientist" (from radio conversation with Rowan Williams).
Sue, London,