Gervais, showing off his new slimmed-down figure, had just told the talk show host how he hated spiders because 'there's something wrong with them' when a staff member in a spider costume crept up behind him.
And the 49-year-old funnyman, who had just been handed a pair of sparkly gold underpants to wear at the Golden Globes, could not hide his terror as he screamed out and grabbed his chest as the spider leapt out at him.
'It was real fear - thank you very much,' he deadpanned. 'Now I need another pair of underpants.'