Ricky Gervais Got a Cat Scratch Turntable Gift on The Romesh Ranganathan Podcast
05 January 2026
Romesh Ranganathan gave Ricky Gervais one of our
Cat Scratch Turntable Gifts
on The Romesh Ranganathan Show. On air, in front of millions of people.
Ricky's response? “Fantastic.” “So thoughtful.” “Blown away.” He said that last bit twice.
From a man who famously can't be bothered to fake enthusiasm about anything, that's about as strong an endorsement as a cat gift can get.
Bit of background, for the uninitiated. Ricky Gervais gave away nearly £2.5 million from his Mortality tour.
All of it to animal charities. His rescue cat Pickle has completely hijacked his Instagram since 2020.
Her full name, by the way, is Picklicious Fatkins the First. We couldn't make that up if we tried.
He's also got Alley Cats coming to Netflix later this year, an animated series about feral British cats.
So yeah. When Romesh needed a gift for the show, our Cat Scratch Turntable was the only sensible option.
It all kicks off about 29 minutes into the
Ricky Gervais episode, aired 5th January 2026.
They'd been chatting about stand-up nerves and charity donations, and then Romesh pulls out this gift and completely fumbles the reveal:
“It’s… it’s… it’s… well…”
Ricky, laughing: “I don't know what it is. You got to finish the sentence.”
Watch the moment
Or watch directly on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/JxbPBrOt_0E?t=1730
One Cat Scratch Turntable, One Very Pleased Ricky Gervais
Buying gifts for people who have everything is a famously thankless task, and buying a gift for a famous person who has everything and also happens to be brutally honest about their opinions is even worse. But a cardboard DJ deck that lets their beloved rescue cat scratch vinyl like some sort of feline Pete Tong? That falls into a very specific and glorious sweet spot.
Romesh clearly knew he'd pulled it off. After handing over the Cat Scratch Turntable, he sat back with the energy of a man who'd just won Christmas: “Holy shit… I mean, what do you get for Ricky G? We've nailed it.”
He was right, and we're inclined to agree.
Ricky, still flipping the turntable around, half-shrugged and said “well, some of that's easy, isn't it?” which is probably the most Ricky Gervais compliment a gift can receive. Translation: if you know someone loves cats, the gift picks itself.
Ricky, deadpan, side-eyeing Romesh: “Is this product placement? You getting money for this?” Romesh: “No…” Ricky: “He's just made 10 grand giving that to me.”
Which led to the bit we'd quite like framed on the office wall. Romesh, mock-serious, asking Ricky to look down the camera: “Ricky, could you do me a favour? Can you just say you really love it?”
“I absolutely love this. Thank you. No, no… that's a genuine lovely… that's a genuine thing.”
£19.99 well spent, we'd say. And not bad company to keep, either, considering Oprah put us on her Favourite Things list and Taylor Swift's been spotted with the Cat Scratch Turntable on TV. The turntable's been getting around more than most touring musicians at this point.
Why Ricky Gervais and Cat Gifts Were Always Going to Be a Perfect Match
For anyone who's followed Ricky's career over the past few years, this gift moment feels almost inevitable. The man is, by his own admission, completely obsessed with cats. Pickle, adopted during lockdown after the family lost their previous cat Ollie, now runs Ricky's social media accounts in all but name.
All of which meant that when Romesh Ranganathan walked into that studio needing a gift for the most famous cat lover in British comedy, a Cat Scratch Turntable was about as close to a guaranteed bullseye as you're going to get.
The Cat Scratch Turntable: A Quick Spin Through the Backstory
We've got a longer version of this story if you want the full thing, but the short version goes like this: our designer Jude Biddulph was at a house party, someone's cat jumped onto a record turntable mid-spin and started batting at the vinyl with its paw. The entire room collectively decided the cat was DJ-ing.
Sixteen years on, the Cat Scratch Turntable has shipped to dozens of countries, been shared millions of times across social media, and wound up in the hands of Taylor Swift and now Ricky Gervais.
Watch the Full Podcast Moment
You can watch the Ricky Gervais episode of The Romesh Ranganathan Show on YouTube if you want to see the whole exchange for yourself.
Get Your Cat on the Decks
The Cat Scratch Turntable is £19.99 with free UK delivery (1–2 days) and worldwide express shipping (2–5 days).
If you're a journalist, blogger, or content creator and you'd like to feature or review the Cat Scratch Turntable, you can download the full media kit here.