Ricky Gervais takes David Brent out of The Office and on the road in new film

DAVID BRENT is hardly someone you’d want to be mates with.

As a comedy character, however, he’s hilarious.

After a hysterical portrayal by Ricky Gervais as the cringeworthy character, The Office aired its last episode on TV back in 2003.

David is not funny, although he thinks he is, and he fashioned himself as a boss who is also a friend — but his employees had very different ideas about their relationships.

He wandered around his office sharing his pearls of wisdom with colleagues, trying to pass off celebrity quotes as his own.

Now, after 13 years, the boss is back, as Ricky Gervais revives his beloved character for new film David Brent: Life on the Road.

Ricky wrote, directed and starred in the film, which follows in the steps of the television series.

However, Ricky’s co-writer of the TV version, Stephen Merchant, is absent from writing duties.

In Life on the Road, we’ll follow David — who’s now a salesman of feminine-hygiene products and a wannabe rockstar — as he attempts to break into the music industry with his band Foregone Conclusion.

Ricky more than anyone wanted to see the return of his deluded character, saying: “I’m so excited that the world will see what David Brent is up to now and where his future lies.

“This film delves much more into his private life than The Office ever did and we really get to peel back the layers of this extraordinary, ordinary man.

“David is 15 years sadder, 15 years more desperate.”

We’re in for a treat, though, as Ricky adds: “He’s 15 years funnier. I think the tragedy increases and the pathos increases, but his enthusiasm doesn’t wane.

“That’s funnier in a way.

“He’s trying to relive the days of when he was in a band, in the 80s,” Ricky adds.

“It’s really sad.

“He thinks he’s going to get signed, because he’s been sold the lie that anyone can become famous, because Simon Cowell told us they can.

“He doesn’t quite get it.”

With the TV series having been broadcast in more than 100 countries — and remade in eight — this was far more than a domestic interest and it stands Ricky in good stead for David’s arrival on the big screen.

A trailer for the film broke away from the normal trend for splicing together selected funny moments and, instead, publicised the film with David Brent’s most-recent music video, Lady Gypsy.

It shows David dressed in a white vest, with a red neck tie, cavorting in a meadow with said gypsy.

With David propped against some trees playing the guitar, it’s as cheesy as you could imagine, and then some, and sets the tone for the rest of the film.

While Ricky is keen to bring his awkward boss role back, he is also keen to point out, it’s not a return to The Office, only to David.

“David thinks this is like Martin Scorsese following the Rolling Stones around,” he says.

“Whereas it’s really a ‘Where are they now?’ file. It’s not The Office. It mustn’t be. That was very then.”

David Brent: Life on the Road is released in cinemas now. An accompanying soundtrack album is also available.

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