Ricky Gervais has hit out at “difficult” actors who are “spoiled little brats” in a video on Instagram.

The Office star, 63, was asked by a fan, “How do you deal with actors who won’t do what they’re told?” during a Q&A session at the weekend.

Gervais, who is a director as well as an actor, said you have to treat tricky actors “like children” and just “get through” the project instead of firing them.

The After Life star admitted he saw one troublesome colleague “gob their chewing gum” into the hand of a makeup artist on set and said actors who have been working in the industry all their lives are the hardest to deal with.

“Do you know what? I’ve been lucky. I often work with the same crew and actors and they’re great,” he said in a video captioned “Actors” on his Instagram page.

“I reckon it’s been two times in 25 years when there’s been a difficult actor. The truth is you can’t do anything, really. You’ve got to take it on the chin because they’ve got you by the b***s.”

The Extras star went on: “In a production if you’ve got an actor in for a day or a couple of days – everything’s in place.

“You can’t just fire an actor because they’re being an a***hole because then you’ve got to start again. I cant go into the studio and go, ‘I fired him he was annoying me.’

“So you’ve got to sort of go [mimes consoling an actor] ‘f***ing hell, yeah, good point’. You’ve got to treat them like children, really, because they’re spoiled.”

Gervais conceded that some actors become entitled after being given special treatment for years.

“They’ve been turned into children when it’s all they’ve ever done, like if they’ve been acting since they were 18 or something or straight out of college,” he said.

“People tie your laces for you, get your coffee for you. I’ ve seen actors gob their chewing gum into the f***ing makeup woman’s hand!”

The comedian burst out laughing and exclaimed: “They’re spoiled little brats!

“But I haven’t worked with any of them to be honest. But when it happens you’ve got to just get through it and never work with them again.”

Gervais added that he finds it harder to act alongside a pampered actor than it is to direct them because he can’t “hide behind the monitor” when things get bad.

“If you’re in a scene with someone and they’ve annoyed you and you’ve got to be funny… you’re f***ing fuming,” he confessed, laughing.

Elsewhere in the video, the An Idiot Abroad star revealed he is often approached to do a podcast in which he talks about the showbusiness industry, but says he’s “too busy” with his tour.

Gervais is in the middle of his Mortality stand-up tour around the UK.

He kicked off the tour in late 2024 and and has a run of shows scheduled for London in October and November.