Ricky Gervais teams up with top neurosurgeon for Absolutely Mental podcast

Funnyman Ricky Gervais and neuroscientist Sam Harris have teamed up for a new podcast, which will focus on the way we think.

Absolutely Mental, which launches next week, will tackle the purpose of dreams and why we fear death, among other probing topics.

Gervais and Harris, the host of the popular Making Sense podcast and the creator of the Waking Up meditation app, are longtime friends.

The After Life star told Deadline: "These aren’t academic lectures. They are casual chats about how it feels to be human. Evolution, the mind body problem, spirituality, morality, mortality, the pursuit of happiness, and free speech."

All episodes of Absolutely Mental will be available from launch at AbsolutelyMental.com and will cost $14.99, with each episode lasting between 30-40minutes.

Gervais' podcast The Ricky Gervais Show, which he launched with Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington, was previously named the world's most downloaded podcast, and was later turned into a TV series for HBO.