RICKY Gervais has thanked fans after 77,000 ticket requests were made for his upcoming Christchurch performances. 

UK comedy legend, Ricky Gervais, has thanked his fans after many were left disappointed after not able to get tickets. 

The comedian has claimed 77,000 ticket requests were made for his two Christchurch shows at The Regent which has a seating of 505.

Ricky said: "There were 77,000 ticket requests for a 500-seat venue in Christchurch today. That's a lot of disappointed fans.

"I really appreciate the effort and hope you try again in the future. On the plus side, I'll be playing to some of the luckiest ***** in Britain next week."

Around 300 people queued from as early as 4.30am to get tickets to Ricky's upcoming shows on May 13 and 14. 

Despite waiting long hours, very few tickets were given on the door and several have spotted some on resale for prices upwards of £200 on sites such as Viagogo. 

Ricky earlier addressed the disappointment of many fans on Twitter and said more tickets should have been made available on door. 

He said: "That's annoying. They should have held back a number of tickets for box office only."