LOS ANGELES—Ricky Gervais has made a good living out of being funny. Well, funny and honest. And the jokes are sure flying at the Beverly Hills press conference for Muppets Most Wanted, with the British comedian behind most of them. Gervais, who portrays villain Dominic Badguy (pronounced bad-gee—it’s French) pokes fun at Kermit the Frog and declares his love for his partner in crime in the film, Constantine (both of whom are also in attendance), a hardened, Russian frog who switches places with Kermit in order to carry out a heist. “I’ve loved the Muppets for 35 years and I love this guy, I love you, I love your nephew Robin, he’s got no neck, it’s great,” he says, gesturing to Kermit, who’s seated beside him. “And I’m sorry to say this, but I think Constantine is my favourite, my best buddy.”

Gervais plays to his strengths in the film, but it is also a Muppets movie, which means the human actors, including Tina Fey and Ty Burrell, have to cooperate with the way the Muppets do business. That means singing and dancing. “I was okay with singing,” Gervais says. “I always sneak a song into everything I do, whether it’s David Brent [from The Office], or The Simpsons or whatever.”

He continues, his speech like an automatic rifle set on Burst, spitting out words quickly and efficiently: “Dancing, little awkward. Little embarrassed about that. I don’t move well. But I was with a frog, so it doesn’t matter. I’ll do anything with a frog, that’s my motto. He’s great with tap-dancing or flap-dancing on my head. So no one’s going to be looking at me when we’re doing that dance. They’re going to be saying, ‘There’s a frog dancing!’ That’s what’s going to be happening. So I got away with it.”

There’s a plethora of cameos in the film, ranging from Christoph Waltz to Lady Gaga, and the similarity of the Muppets formula to the way Gervais spurred a hit program out of BBC’s Extras isn’t lost on the actor. “The Muppets did what I tried to do in Extras many years before, taking famous people and making them make fools of themselves. Being on the flip side of this and Curb Your Enthusiasm, you want to be worse, because you are sort of saying, ‘Look, I can’t be that bad or I wouldn’t be joking about it.’ And I think that’s why they want to do it in a way. It was great fun for me.”

Although he’s a critic’s darling, Gervais is starkly honest when asked whether he cares about how the Muppets will be received.

“You do it for yourself, really,” he insists. “But you know, I love to get good reviews and I’d be lying if I said otherwise. But you really mustn’t worry about it. It will drive you crazy.” Gervais pauses, collects himself, and exhales. “Having said that, just say fucking nice things about it, please. Not for me, but for the kids.”