Review – The Ricky Gervais Show
The Ricky Gervais Show – HBO – 9:00pm Friday – USA
You may have heard of Ricky Gervais, he’s the guy behind The Office and Extras. Odds are that in one of his various bouts of self-promotion the guy has actually come around to your house to do the David Brent dance. You might be asking yourself what’s this The Ricky Gervais Show all about then, well let me give you a rundown and then I’m going to take a guess at your response.
In 2005 Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington started a podcast. This was initially offered for free on the internet and is often noted as “the most downloaded podcast” ever. What’s this got to do with the new HBO series The Ricky Gervais Show you might be wondering – well, what they’ve done is taken that podcast and animate it. So Ricky, Stephen and Karl sit around talking, usually the discussion involves Ricky and Stephen making fun of Karl for being a dunderhead and what they’ve done is animate that conversation. Instead of just seeing those three humans talking, we see animated versions of those three sitting around some microphones having a chat.
That’s not all of course, say for example Karl may tell a story about a monkey astronaut, why then the animation department would whip up some clips of a cartoon monkey being an astronaut while we hear Karl telling the story. I know what you’re asking – ‘why?’ Good question. It’s the same one I kept asking the television as I sat through The Ricky Gervais Show. Why? Why animate a five year old podcast? Why? Why? Why?
Well, I think I know the answer and come with me on this one: Ricky Gervais loves money. Ricky Geravis is also lazy. I imagine that Ricky Gervais was sitting around wondering how he could make more money and do absolutely nothing to get it. I imagine that Stephen Merchant was sitting there next to him and said “oh, we’ve got those podcasts we started five years ago.” Then I imagine a little globe went off above Ricky’s melon-shaped head. “That’s a great idea,” I imagine him saying, “we can just hire some people to animate our podcasts and then sell it to HBO.” I imagine he and Stephen then gave each other a high five before going off to make fun of Karl for not thinking before he opens his mouth.
There is not a single reason for this show to exist other than to line the already fat pockets of Ricky Gervais. I’m not saying that the podcast isn’t occasionally amusing, it is, as long as you don’t mind the fact that it’s nothing more than two smartarses picking on a slow kid to make themselves feel more intelligent. It’s just that there is no reason for those podcasts to be animated. It brings nothing to the table and if anything it detracts from the fun of the podcast. As Karl tells a stupid story about a creepy mansion you want to picture the tale in your own head not get a crappily animated version of the goings on.
The Ricky Gervais Show is quite possibly the laziest idea for a television show ever. You honestly have to wonder why they couldn’t have been bothered making a scripted animated series about the adventures of Ricky and Stephen as they feel smart by teasing a simpleton. I didn’t like Archer very much but at least it tried and did something original. The Ricky Gervais Show is nothing more than smug, self-indulgent, bullshit but then it is Ricky Gervais so really I should have known what was coming; it’s like me grabbing a bottle labelled ‘poison’, drinking it, and then complaining that it caused me to die.
Good, Alright, Bad Or Ugly?
Bad
Oh my god, you suck. This show is awesome and YOU are NOT.
good luck with your crappy taste. Really works well in the ‘reviewing’ career.
Thanks Michelle for your constructive criticism.
I’m pretty sure my problem with The Ricky Gervais Show was that it was nothing more than an animated redo of material from five years ago. A podcast I enjoyed at the time, but didn’t need to see again as an animated series on HBO for no reason whatsoever.
hmmm.. agreed with michelle… I actually heard that the reason they began the show was because FANS made animations to go with the various podcast clips. Also it’s for people who didn’t know about the podcasts in the first place, so I’m guessing that its not all about ”the money” as you claim, in fact I’m quite sure that Gervais makes more money out of syndication rights for various versions the office alone… This show is brilliant for people who just want to have a laugh at Karl Pilkington and his amazing perception of the world, Steve Merchants wit and Rickys insane laugh!!. I have listened to the podcasts and have seen a few episodes of the show and loved it but to each is own I guess. Hopefully it comes out in Australia soon!
I’m sure he does make more money out of syndication rights for various versions of the office, but I bet he also made money out of this while contributing zero effort creatively.
I would rather see Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant star in a brand new series than have them just trot out some old material of theirs with a fresh new animated sheen.
welll you can see that in ‘lifes too short’ the series that they’re making with warwick davis
and you can see Pilkington in ‘An Idiot Abroad’ I think Steve and Ricky feature in it also..
I look forward to them both.
We cannot and need not know what Ricky et al do with the money they make from this. Just as I am not required to tell my employer what I spend my wages on, they do not have to tell the people who buy the dvd what they spend that money on. If you are not a fan don’t buy/watch it-simple. There are enough people who will buy it without a review simply because they are fans so your review is really irrelevant!
Sorry- meant to make a point there…my point is: they may… and I strongly suspect they do…make substantial donations to charities or worthy causes like ending bull fighting etc.
I hope they do donate to end bull fighting because it’s really an epidemic that’s getting out of control.
This show is pretty brilliant. It’s interesting you say Gervais just wants to make money when they made the podcast free in the first place. Plus, I highly doubt he’s just “sitting around wondering how to make money.” The man has a million projects all the time (stand-up, movies, television, etc.) Millions of people heard the podcasts to begin with but there was millions of others that hadn’t. The podcasts are amazingly fun in my opinion so I think revamping them in this style for more to hear them was a great idea. This show is classy humor that eventually makes my sides hurt laughing and it’s 10x better than any other crap on TV anymore.
Wow, someone didn’t get it… Why? Why animate a five year old podcast? Why? Why? Why? Why the fuck not? I don’t listen to fucking podcasts. This is how I get to listen to the show.
Eat a dick, bitch. Get a sense of humor.
For somebody who supposedly has a sense of humor, you seem kind of angry.
And I think I got it: “recycling old material = more money”. It’s a simple and effective formula.
Meh, I agree it’s unoriginal, but the majority of people don’t even know what a podcast is, so it’s all new material to them. And there is some really funny stuff in those podcasts. What’s really lazy is how poor quality the animation actually is, and how unimagintive the fantasy scenarios are, but whatever.