Things that you know will be shit

[Rockbus2]

As a Vegan, it thoroughly annoys me that Gervais is held up as some sort of model of perfection in the vegan community. Simply because he's a vegan and famous he's absolutely fawned over. They're so happy to forget the fact he's a transphobe and an absolute bell end because he makes videos about veganism. Social justice and animal rights go hand in hand and ignoring the first makes your second nothing but performative. 

[TheBurningRed]

2 hours ago, Wretch said:

Yeah, even on those XFM radio shows, some of Ricky's stories involve meeting Karl in the boozer on a day off. He never mentions once meeting Steve on the outside for a pint. 

I think the age difference came in to play there. Merchant was only in his mid-late 20s and Ricky about 13 years older. They had different lifestyles at that point. Plus, I imagine writing a sitcom and doing a radio show with Gervais was plenty of time to have spent with him. And Karl became Ricky’s play thing.

Ricky Gervais is a frustrating figure. He’s been part of a lot of my favourite things - The Office and Extras are two sitcoms I watch repeatedly, the XFM Radio Show and then the podcast/tv show, both being a real comfort listen for me. I loved the Golden Years pilot and even his first two stand ups were enjoyable.

Then he branched out on his own. And just became this annoying, smug twat who writes terrible sitcoms and stand up. Derek and Afterlife are absolute shite. The David Brent movie was even worse. You can tick off everything he does now in probably one episode of a show - vegan, calls someone a cunt, atheism, I love animals, especially cats and dogs, call someone a cunt again.

Some of the worst stuff I watched a few years ago was him doing a live on YouTube or instagram, reading the bad reviews he got for The Office. Get over it mate. You won awards. It’s cited as one of the best sitcoms ever made.

And as for his stand up and his subject matter. He was very pro trans back on the XFM days, and I don’t believe he is transphobic now. I’m not defending him for what he says during his shows. It’s just hack shit that he knows will create controversy and that his target audience will lap it up. It’s quite sad and pathetic really that he’s changed his views professionally and alienated people just to make a couple of extra million. He’s gone too far now to backtrack. It’s just interesting listening to him be the complete opposite years back when trans rights weren’t as more out there and powerful as they are now. 

[SuperBacon]

23 minutes ago, TheBurningRed said:

podcast/tv show, both being a real comfort listen for me

I'll sometimes pop on one of those 6 hour ones on YouTube when falling asleep. Not much makes me laugh more than the Clive Warren bit and Karl fictionally speaking to one of his "employees" that can't come in due to the snow.

[Rockbus2]

That's the thing with his transphobia. I'm not sure if he believes it or not. But as you say, he's picked a lane of making offensive jokes about the trans community and stuck there. So whatever his core belief he emboldens undeniable transphobes which puts trans people under attack. He's therefore a problem for the trans community and falls under the banner of transphobia. 

[Wretch]

35 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

I'll sometimes pop on one of those 6 hour ones on YouTube when falling asleep. Not much makes me laugh more than the Clive Warren bit and Karl fictionally speaking to one of his "employees" that can't come in due to the snow.

Ever heard the phrase monkey business? 

[Scratch]

I often get presented with clips on social media of Ricky Gervais, David Baddiel and Brian Cox talking about science, and Ricky wants to be the loudest voice in the room, every time. In the presence of Brian Cox.

You're better than that, Professor.

[Carbomb]

I have a lot of time for James Acaster, part of which is down to him absolutely rinsing Gervais with his "I'm a brave little cis boy" bit.

[wordsfromlee]

He stole a bunch of his early stand up material from Stewart Lee too.

[BomberPat]

Stewart Lee did the other great bodying of Gervais, in a routine about how Gervais claims to "say the unsayable", and tries to imagine what actually "saying the unsayable" would sound like. He proceeds to just grunt and make horrible coughing noises into the mic as if he literally, physically can't say what he wants to say and, it being Stewart Lee, he drags it on for as long as he possibly can. But in the middle of it, he goes to a lectern to have a water break, and very obviously reads his lines to see what he has to say next, and then just carries on making the same horrible noises.

Edited June 24 by BomberPat

[Chest Rockwell]

It's excruciating and exactly the sort of shit that people who hate Stewart Lee hate him for. So naturally I was crying with tears of laughter at it.

[Chris B]

15 hours ago, Scratch said:

I often get presented with clips on social media of Ricky Gervais, David Baddiel and Brian Cox talking about science, and Ricky wants to be the loudest voice in the room, every time. In the presence of Brian Cox.

You're better than that, Professor.

To be fair, being married to a fairly prominent transphobe, I'm not sure Cox is much better than that.

[Daaaaaad!]

19 hours ago, Scratch said:

I often get presented with clips on social media of Ricky Gervais, David Baddiel and Brian Cox talking about science, and Ricky wants to be the loudest voice in the room, every time. In the presence of Brian Cox.

If you haven't seen it, there is an HBO roundtable discussion programme from 2011 called 'Talking Funny', which Gervais produced, in which he sits in a room with Louis CK, Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock discussing stand up comedy. Now, for all the massive flaws those people have, at that time they were experienced stand-ups with extensive writing and performance careers. By contrast, Gervais had done a total of four 'shows'. He spends the entire hour lecturing the others on what is and isn't funny, talking over them and basically making himself look like a total pillock, including perhaps the most awkward and excruciating gif I've ever seen:

 

[SuperBacon]

Gifs you can hear that make you die inside.

[Chest Rockwell]

Really enjoyed watching that even though it has Ricky in it, one of the few things I've been ablr to stomach him on because it's great hearing those other guys chatting about their craft. And seeing him embarrass himself in front of them was the best cringe comedy he's ever done. 

Edited June 24 by Chest Rockwell

[Wretch]

14 hours ago, Chest Rockwell said:

Really enjoyed watching that even though it has Ricky in it, one of the few things I've been ablr to stomach him on because it's great hearing those other guys chatting about their craft. And seeing him embarrass himself in front of them was the best cringe comedy he's ever done. 

The thing I enjoyed most about this was the stories about cutting their teeth in the stand-up scene. Similar to some indy wrestlers in that when make it to the big time, their best memories are all the shite they endured along the way. The long car journeys telling stories, getting screwed out of money by promoters, doing their thing in front of single figure audiences, dying on their arse and honing their craft as a result.

It's been a long time since I watched that video, but I definitely remember Ricky being a bit bitter and even slightly jealous as they discussed all this as its something he never experienced. From a stand-up POV, he went from The Office to gigging in front of thousands overnight.