Flanimals is a children's book series written by comedian Ricky Gervais. The book, illustrated by Rob Steen, depicts a list of seemingly useless or inadequate animals, and their behaviour.
The cover Flanimal is the Grundit. The book is published by Faber and Faber, which has also published the sequels More Flanimals, Flanimals of the Deep and Flanimals: The Day of the Bletchling. Flanimals: Pop Up was published October 2009 by Walker Books in the UK and March 2010 by Candlewick Press in the US.
Several models of different Flanimals are available on the official site.
In August 2010, Norwich-based writer and artist John Savage issued a High Court writ, claiming that the original book is based on his own work, Captain Pottie's Wildlife Encyclopedia. The writ claims Savage's artistic and literary copyright has been infringed by Gervais. A spokeswoman for Gervais said the concept and illustrations existed before Savage's work.
Originally ITV had commissioned a television series based on the books, which had a predicted air date of 2009, but it was later scrapped.
Ricky Dene Gervais (/dʒərˈveɪz/; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, director, producer, musician, writer, and former radio presenter.
Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with frequent collaborator Stephen Merchant. In addition to writing and directing the shows, Gervais played the lead roles of David Brent in The Office and Andy Millman in Extras. Gervais has also starred in a number of Hollywood films, assuming leading roles in Ghost Town and The Invention of Lying. He has performed on four sell-out stand-up comedy tours, written the best-selling Flanimals book series and starred with Merchant and Karl Pilkington in the most downloaded podcast in the world as of March 2009,The Ricky Gervais Show.
He has won multiple awards and honours, including seven BAFTA Awards, five British Comedy Awards, two Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and the 2006 Rose d'Or, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. In 2007 he was voted the 11th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups and again in the updated 2010 list as the 3rd greatest stand-up comic. In 2010 he was named on the TIME 100 list of the world's most influential people.