Ricky Gervais has donated over $2 million to animal charities across the globe with the extra profits from his Armageddon tour.
The 62-year-old creator of television shows such as After Life and the UK version of The Office has bestowed a substantial sum raised from selling platinum tickets at his latest shows.
According to The Standard, the $2.4 million pot from his global 2023 tour will be split equally between 11 worldwide animal charities that have been selected by Gervais.
These range from big organizations such as the PDSA, which last year had an income of more than $125 million, to Chaldon Animal Sanctuary which last year had an income of just $67k, per Chortle.
The full list of recipients is All Dogs Matter, Animal SOS Sri Lanka, Catastrophes Cat Rescue, Chaldon Animal Sanctuary, Dogs On The Streets, Helping Rhinos, Millions of Friends, Mira Dogs, Paws2Rescue, PDSA and Wild Futures.
The Golden Globe winner is a vegan and a vocal supporter of animal rights. Since his 2017 Humanity tour, he has sold premium tickets to his concerts, with the money going to charity.
Speaking about the charitable move, the comedian joked: "I hope the dogs, cats, rhinos, and monkeys invest this money wisely because when my career goes t**s up I’ll need it back," per The Standard.
Gervais also contended that people "willing to pay higher prices" for the platinum seats "will at least know it's going to charity instead of some scummy tout".
Many users have praised the stand-up comic for his donations, with one user writing: "Thank you for being so generous. I am happy you are helping our animal friends [and] are so supportive."
Another said: "You are a champion for kitties~ and pups thank you!! xx," while a third commented: "Finally someone understands the real priorities."
A fourth added: "You’re the best! Thank you for all you do for animals."
The donations come ahead of the launch of Armageddon which will premiere on Netflix on Christmas Day.
The release follows Gervais' record-breaking 85-date tour which saw the comedian enter the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest-grossing single stand-up show of all time, when his Hollywood Bowl show raked in $1.7 million in May.
In addition to this, he has also broken attendance records for the largest number of tickets sold for a British comedian and English-speaking comedy show in the US, Canada, Sweden, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Czechia, Norway, Portugal, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland.
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