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When Ricky Gervaiss BBC Two comedy seriesThe Officebecame a global sensation, it didnt just change the comedians life.
It changed the life of Tim Oliver.
He displays the results of his work onTikTokandInstagram, where he has 51.5k and 13.6k followers, respectively.
Hes distinct from a lot of his peers in his sheer commitment to the job.
According to Oliver, Gervais is aware of his work.
(Gervais himself is no stranger to the world of look-alikes.
When and why did you start this line of work?I started in 2004.
Before that, I was running an events company.
You sound just like the guy thats on it.
So I watched it and I was like, No, Im never gonna do that.
But I ended up doing it, and I love it.
I thought,It would be criminal not to do something about this.I just hope it never ends.
Well, it will end quite soon, I imagine.
Has your profile been helped by Instagram and TikTok?Yep.
The last two years with TikTok and Instagram have been crazy.
And LinkedIn as well because LinkedIns more business-to-business, which is where David Brent fits in.
David Brent fits in pretty much everywhere, to be fair.
Ive even done a wake before.
I think Im busier than Ive ever been.
When you describe it as an occupation to other people, it sounds insane.It is weird.
When people approach me on the street and say, Are you Ricky?
or whatever, its very weird and hard to get used to at first.
When people do recognize you, you almost go,Phew, I do still look like him.
I think Ive morphed into him, to be fair.
Ive met him and Ive been his body double.
You just hope that nothing ever happens that could ruin your career.
I often have to adjust what I say in different environments.
I did anOfficequiz a couple of years ago in an office in Central London.
I used the word transvestite, and you cant use that word now.
This young HR girl told me, and people overheard her on the mic.
She had long red hair, so I said that, and everyone cracked up laughing.
Because I was in character, it went down really well.
Do you ever break character?
If you answered those personal questions back as Brent, it would be rude.
So I always come out of character.
I filmed a TV show calledLookalikes,and I was the main character in it.
We were in the greenroom, so wed all start talking to each other about our lives.
They wouldnt break character at all.
Theres obviously some awkward moments, because lads are lads.
On stag dos, I do this thing called The Mr. and Mrs. Quiz.
They might say something like, Where was the weirdest place youve ever had sex together?
And the guy would go, Oh, once we did it in a train carriage.
And they go, Oh … dont remember that.
Brent picks up on that and makes everyone else laugh about it.
Your voice is so similar to Rickys.
Theres those small distinctions between us.
People always say to me, Is that your real voice?
And I go, No no, in real life Im Glaswegian.
Are you comfortable telling us how much money you make?I never talk about money.
How much writing is involved?Theres lots of material, and I personalize stuff as well.
People love when you take the mickey out of people in authority.
I write it very much Ricky-style.
Its lovely to be able to put something in writing and then deliver it in a comical way.
Weve got a Chippendoubles WhatsApp, which we all communicate on a daily basis.
We all converge onto London on occasion and all meet up and go out for dinner and stuff.
Its a lovely community, the look-alike community.
Everyone knows everyone, because its very small.
Do you have any idea what Gervais thinks of you?Hes fine with it all.
