"How was your day at work?" asked my husband. "The usual," I replied. "Oh, and Ricky Gervais called."

In the past 10 years, Ricky Gervais appears to have conquered the world. From creating The Office, the most critically acclaimed sitcom in recent years, he has gone on to become the fastest selling UK stand-up, strut his stuff in Hollywood, and was recently named in Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People In The World. He has even appeared in The Simpsons and Sesame Street, which he claims is the highlight of his career.

Notoriously, he's not keen on interviews, and to be honest, he doesn't need to bother – he has no trouble shifting tickets to his sell-out tours. So it was a surprise when I had a call saying my speculative request to the star's management team had got a result. The next thing I know, the phone rings, and it's the man himself.

"I've turned down an interview with Jim Davidson for this," I tell him when he calls me at my desk.

"That's my competition is it?" he laughs. "Nightmare!"

Ricky talks with immense passion and wonderful irony, both of which are difficult to convey on the page.

He chats 90-to-the-dozen flitting from hilarious to sarcastic to impassioned, regularly incorporating silly voices and that high-pitched mating call that is his laugh.

Ricky returns to the Colston Hall this weekend with his latest stand-up show Science. He played to a sell-out crowd at the Bristol venue in March and made it known on local radio that he was less than impressed by the Evening Post's review.

But do reviews really matter to Ricky, who's cited as 'the most influential British comedian since Charlie Chaplin', has won three Golden Globes, two Primetime Emmys, seven BAFTAS and is a multimillionaire?

"Not really – but not because I'm successful. The thing about comedy is that you can't please everyone. You love it or hate it, but I wouldn't have it any other way. If you try to please everyone, you end up not exciting anyone. I'm not interested in doing anodyne comedy and the kind of light observation most people could do themselves. That's just not me."

The issue of integrity arises throughout our interview – the pursuit of quality, the fear of compromise and the maintenance of high standards are issues that nag at Ricky daily.

He sees himself as a "fundamentalist comedian" – cheap laughs, terrible puns and pandering to the audience are strictly forbidden. "I also think that you should not apologise for anything you do," he says, his patter gathering momentum as his enthusiasm for the subject begins to simmer.

"A comedian's job is not just to make people laugh but to make them think by taking them to taboo areas.

"There's this big debate about whether there are things you shouldn't joke about and the answer is no. There is nothing you shouldn't joke about – it's about what the joke is and whether the comedy comes from a good or bad place. I can justify everything I say and I don't need people to get it or to like it.

"In any case," he says, calming down, pausing for effect and adopting a childlike tone, "somebody must like it as the tickets are selling!"

You can tell Ricky enjoys playing devil's advocate. He admits that to him, "a gasp of horror is probably more important than a laugh".

Ricky and I share a love of Christopher Guest films (Spinal Tap, Best In Show, A Mighty Wind). So was Guest's legendary "mockumentary" Spinal Tap a direct influence on spoof docu-soap The Office?

"Yes, the idea of it being shot in a documentary style was Spinal Tap all the way," admits Ricky, whose HBO-produced animated podcasts are currently going down a storm on Channel 4.

"Also, Christopher Guest was the first person to do that lovely naturalistic comedy, but hilarious. He uses that veil of irony that we had in The Office where you laugh at someone saying the wrong thing.

"I had lunch with him while I was in LA last week and he's great – always full of surprises. I always find out something he did that I didn't know about, because he's so modest and untouched, do you know what I mean? He still remembers why he's doing it – to laugh himself and make others laugh."

In 2006, Ricky appeared in Guest's film For Your Consideration, describing being approached by Guest as "like getting a call from God, saying, 'Do you want to look round heaven?'"

On the big screen, Ricky went on to have cameos in Night At The Museum and Stardust before branching out and writing, directing and starring in The Invention of Lying and the recently-released Cemetery Junction.

The films garnered mixed reviews. In fact, Ricky's output has always divided opinion. Even The Office was panned before finally being acknowledged as the comic classic it is today.

"Myself and Stephen [Merchant] think that we make things that are better on second viewing. We really do believe that, because if you do anything with any slight innovation it's less accessible than the things you have seen a thousand times before and immediately recognise. That has happened to me with everything I've been involved in. I started out on the 11 O'Clock Show and people hated me – they said 'Is he really like that? Is it irony? If it is irony, can I like it?' and now people get it.

"Then The Office came out, and I remember the first review. It said the show was awful, unfunny, no jokes and... wait for it... 'Gervais often fluffed his lines'. Now why would I do that? Why would I have left that in? It's supposed to be like that, you...

"Then, when I did Extras, they said it wasn't as good as The Office but by the end they liked it as much and some liked it more.

"It happens every time. Every stand-up I've done included. And everything I will ever do, the haters will say 'this is even worse than the other rubbish he's done', and I know that and have come to love that!"

On his Science tour, Ricky is supported by acclaimed Canadian stand-up Stewart Francis. On previous tours, he had his good pal Robin Ince opening the show, but after he tortured the hapless bespectacled comic mercilessly (shown to great effect on the Animals and Politics tour DVD extras), Ince called it a day.

"I don't know why he doesn't want to come on tour with me," says Ricky with mock innocence. "Maybe it was something I said... or maybe it was the fact that I hogtied him and buried him on a beach once?"

Could it be because, as Robin himself told me, Ricky brings him out in a stress rash and he didn't want his son growing up to think his daddy was bullied by other men?

"Is that what he said? Oh good!," he screeches with joy. "I feel my work here is done. Luckily, when his child is 58 and a lawyer, there is always YouTube!"

Of course, someone who has to take Ricky's antics on the chin day in, day out is his writing partner, Bristolian Stephen Merchant. He's amused by the accent, so I wonder whether Ricky can mimic his mate's Brizzle burr?

"I was halfway there with Reading where I grew up – my mum used to talk like one of the Wurzels!"

It's always a cliché when the act coming to play in your city says how it's their favourite place to play. But Ricky is insistent that Bristol is just that.

"Bristol is one of my favourite gigs. No, it really is. The Colston Hall is one of my favourite venues. There are two or three that I keep returning to because I like them. I did the Colston Hall six times when I did my last show Fame.

"Arenas are great and Madison Square Gardens, where I recorded an HBO special, was an amazing experience – I can't knock it. But they are more like shows than stand-up gigs in many ways.

"I think the best gigs are 2,000 people squashed into a Victorian theatre with a great atmosphere and a real good comedy crowd, and that's what you get in Bristol and that's why I'll return again and again."

Ricky Gervais returns to Colston Hall on Sunday, May 30, and Monday, May 31. Tickets cost £30 – call 0117 922 3686.

The Ricky Gervais Show is on Channel 4 at 11.05pm tomorrow (Fri) and available on DVD from July 19.