Ricky Gervais

[Juninhoburger]

We’ll have to agree to disagree.

We can agree that you personally don't find it funny.

 

[Kevo4]

Used to enjoy the animated Ricky gervais show with pilkington and merchant, some of those had me howling with laughter

 

[AytonMews]

Used to enjoy the animated Ricky gervais show with pilkington and merchant, some of those had me howling with laughter

Yeah that was quality

 

[Juninhoburger]

Used to enjoy the animated Ricky gervais show with pilkington and merchant, some of those had me howling with laughter

Those were just the podcasts.

I still have 6 series worth of The Ricky Gervais Show burned onto a CD somewhere.

 

[Corcaigh_the_Cat]

The Office, After Life and Extras I found brilliant.

I haven't enjoyed his stand up performances anywhere near as much and won't bother watching another.

 

[zzzzz]

After Life is pure genius.
There is nothing like it.
Funny, sad, beautiful and poignant all at once.
Sorry but if you can't find anythjng to like in that there's little hope for you.

 

[atypical_boro]

For me, stand up is barely anything to do with “content” and about 95% delivery. Gervais’ stand up content is deliberately designed to provoke a reaction from people who take their own opinions too seriously, but that’s not its main issue, I just don’t think his stand up delivery is in the same league as Dave Chappelle, Bill Burr, Chris Rock and maybe one or two others.

But his sitcom writing is second to none, even if his heyday is probably well behind him.

 

[BaronSmoggie]

His delivery works. I do find him funny on stand up but prefer his sitcom work. People getting worked up about what are jokes and ridiculous positions he takes to make them need to step back and chill in my opinion.

 

[Jonny Ingbar]

Then surely you recognise it’s all subjective?

Of course it's subjective, but then creative arts are.

But the fact that he is so popular and so acclaimed is objectively an indication of his talent.

 

[atypical_boro]

It is kind of interesting though how his material used to be panned by the Mail and loved by the Guardian, and now it’s kind of the other way round. Even though his act hasn’t actually really changed. Maybe an indication of how societal attitudes have changed in his 20 year stand up career?

 

[Blf]

Afterlife was something wonderful. It had me crying and laughing at the same time Never seen anything like it.
Loved the Office and Extras.
His stand up shows are funny in many places but go on a bit long for me. (however you wouldn't want a short show if you had paid to see him ).
All in all I think Ricky is a pretty special talent.

 

[LowMoorBoro]

Stand up not fussed on, liked after life and extras were good.
I watched the office about 20 years after it was on tv and thought it was just okay. Didn’t like the David Brent character, I know it’s just a sitcom I just found it unbelievable someone like that would exist and be a manager. Maybe if I was younger and watched it when it aired I’d have a higher opinion of it.

 

[newyddion]

Brilliant on the 11 o clock show.. the office was really good.. made a few good points in his early stand up shows.. now utterly vvank.

Derek was appalling, Extras was boff.. The Invention of Lying was good.

Talented guy, very funny.. the golden globes stuff was amazing. Disappointed how much he has fallen off. Ah well

 

[ForssAwakens]

No, I just know a lot about comedy. Particularly the writing process.

And yeah, obviously I am a Gervais fan.

Why don’t you ever do any jokes on here then

 

[ForssAwakens]

Of course. But objectively, The Office was and still is very funny.

Something can never be objectively funny. Finding something funny is solely subjective

 

[ChrisChefYork]

Also I feel like "Derek" is underrated and misunderstood by a lot of people.

Yeh- I agree. At first I thought it was incredibly bad taste but it's actually very warm

 

[Jonathan]

The Office is great and one of my favourite ever shows, Extras is fine, the old XFM and podcast stuff is funny.

Think Derek, Afterlife, his stand-up, and his films are terrible. His stand-up in particular I think is just utter dirge. I enjoyed Animals and Politics when I was younger and now I just find them unbearable, feel like he has whole sections in every single one making jokes about the same exact things all the time, whether it's fat people or trans people. Either that or he's waffling on about being an atheist yet again. Tedious.

Basically I think without Merchant writing with him, or Karl doing the heavy lifting when it comes to be being funny off the cuff, he's rubbish.

 

[Scrote]

He's a great screenwriter (perhaps with other people as mentioned above).

The Office, Extras and Derek are all excellent.

Life's Too Short with Warwick Davies is hilarous in places.

Cemetary Junction is a decent coming-of-age movie too.

Some parts of his stand-up don't work for me but overall his hits outweigh his misses.

His awards hosting has also been really good at throwing spotlights on how celebrity culture (amongst other things) is seriously toxic.

 

[bumface]

Also I feel like "Derek" is underrated and misunderstood by a lot of people.

Nah. It's a pile of w@nk. Just an excuse for Gervais to do the 'mong' impression that he used to do on The Eleven o'Clock Show again, dressed up with a load of rubbish about kindness being magic. The only good thing about that show is that it made me come up with the phrase 'robot grief dog' and that phrase is funnier to me than anything that Gervais has ever written.

 

[Juninhoburger]

Nah. It's a pile of w@nk. Just an excuse for Gervais to do the 'mong' impression that he used to do on The Eleven o'Clock Show again, dressed up with a load of rubbish about kindness being magic. The only good thing about that show is that it made me come up with the phrase 'robot grief dog' and that phrase is funnier to me than anything that Gervais has ever written.

He came up with the Derek character for the Edinburgh Fringe show "Rubbernecker" in 2001, though. Derek was much more than just a bad impression.