Gervais to bring laughs to Ipswich

Comedy superstar Ricky Gervais is on his way to Ipswich with his new stand-up show. Gervais, who shot to fame with his multi-award winning comedy drama The Office, will be touring with his third live show, called Fame. Despite its glamorous title, Fame will see the star return to his stand-up roots more than he has on previous shows and is set to include more anecdotal and autobiographical stories of Gervais' life. Reading-born Gervais created the now-famous character of office manager David Brent.

He has seen his fame spread throughout the world and an American version of The Office has already won him two Golden Globes - and could bring a third when the latest round of the American awards are announced on January 15. After The Office, Gervais returned to his stand-up roots and toured with live shows before going back to creating funny television with Extras.

With two series of Extras pulling in massive TV audiences, the show has generated a cult following amongst celebrities as well as viewers. Each week the series sees a different star make a cameo appearance and as the show's popularity grew so did the number of big names keen to take part. Those to have already appeared in Extras reads like a who's who of Hollywood, with cameos coming from the likes of Samuel L Jackson, Patrick Stewart, Ben Stiller, Kate Winslet, Orlando Bloom, Daniel Radcliff, Ian McKellen and Robert De Niro. British actors Ross Kemp, Richard Briers, Stephen Fry, Diana Rigg and Vinnie Jones have also all appeared, along with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, comedians Ronnie Corbett and Les Dennis and newsreader Moira Stewart.

Ricky Gervais will be appearing at the Regent Theatre in Ipswich on March 27 and 28. Tickets go on sale at 10am on Tuesday, January 16. Born out of a pilot project Gervais and long-term collaborator Stephen Merchant put together as an experiment, The Office went on to be a massive UK hit when it was first aired.

The documentary-style comedy sees Gervais star as hapless office manager David Brent at Slough-based paper company, Wernham Hogg. The Office also made stars of Martin Freeman and Mackenzie Crook, who played warring colleagues Tim Canterbury and Gareth Keenan. Both have since gone on to build film careers, with Freeman starring in Shaun of the Dead and Love Actually and Crook being a regular in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

Two series of The Office were shown by the BBC, along with two Christmas specials. The format has since been adapted around the world, including versions known as Le Bureau in France and La Job in Quebec, Canada. A German series called Stromberg has also been based around The Office.

Written and directed by Gervais and Stephen Merchant, Extras follows the careers of wannabe actors trying to be successful film stars. Like The Office, there have been two series of Extras and the show has become a 'must-do' for Hollywood's A-listers.