British funnyman Ricky Gervais has hit back at critics who ridiculed his performance at this year's Concert For Diana - dismissing it as just a "bad five minutes". The star took to the stage at the gig - which was held to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales - to introduce a performance by Sir Elton John, but was forced to improvise when a technical fault delayed the singer's appearance. Gervais received scathing reviews after he ran out of material and appeared visibly flustered as he attempted to fill the gap. But the 46-year-old insists he didn't take the criticism personally. He says, "It's gone into legend that the crowd hated it and they booed me. But they didn't. "People were writing afterwards that it was the end of my career. All comedians can have a bad five minutes and it wasn't like I was actually doing my act."