Multi award-winning stand-up comedian, screenwriter and actor Ricky Gervais will be presented with this year’s Richard Dawkins Award, from the US-based Center for Inquiry. CFI campaigns to remove the influence of religion in science education and public policy, and to eliminate the stigma that surrounds atheism and non-belief.

The Richard Dawkins award has been presented annually since 2003. Past winners have included philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett, activist and feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and actor and writer Stephen Fry.

The award will be presented at the Grade II-listed Art-Deco venue ‘Troxy’ in London on Tuesday 3rd September 2019. The event that follows will be an unscripted conversation between Gervais and Dawkins, in which everything is on the table and nothing is sacred. They will be joined by host, best-selling author and professor of psychology, Richard Wiseman. 

Ricky Gervais said: “I have won many awards in my time, but this is the first for being reasonable, which, in the present climate, makes it the most important.”

Tickets for this event are on sale now here.