From high in the sky to deep underground, including my first time riding 2 different modes of transport and my first London museum visit in ages, plus stand-up comedy, TV shows and music, there’s been a lot going on this month. London really is feeling alive and back to normal again, which is wonderful. So I’ve got a lot to get through here as usual, none of which is sponsored or gifted, and I hope you enjoy this latest roundup!
Continue reading “May 2022 Favourites”Tag: Karl Pilkington
The Ricky Gervais Show – Animated Series Review
Having recently watched and reviewed the great stand-up shows by Ricky Gervais, including his latest Netflix release, I’ve also gone through his animated TV series The Ricky Gervais Show on DVD yet again, as that’s consistently very funny too.
It’s based on a series of radio shows and podcasts that Ricky recorded with fellow comedian Stephen Merchant and their radio producer friend Karl Pilkington, talking about all sorts of random things. I have a large selection of their recordings in audiobook form, downloaded for free or from Audible, which are always good fun to dip into:
- XFM Seasons 1-4 (the full episodes, not the short compilations on Audible)
- Podcast Seasons 1, 2, 4 & 5 (Season 3 is unavailable)
- The Ricky Gervais Guide To…
- Other Free Podcasts
Ricky and Stephen have a lot of banter and funny stories of their own that they bring to the table in those shows, especially in the early days. But Karl increasingly becomes the main focus of their interest, as he has his own special take on the world. He was first introduced to a wider audience, beyond the XFM radio show, on some of Ricky’s stand-up DVDs, by Ricky talking about him on stage, and also chatting with Karl directly in the bonus features.
Whether it’s completely misunderstanding things that seem obvious to the rest of us, coming up with strange ideas for improving the world with his bizarre logic, having strange habits that often irritate his partner Suzanne, or his obsession with weird trivia about freaks and animals, it is amazing what Karl comes out with. It seems that he often hears about news stories and facts, or watches documentaries, without fully understanding, researching or verifying them, and then he extrapolates in his head what he believes happened. Or he incorrectly remembers some fictional story or film he came across once as a factual account. So by the time he tells Ricky and Stephen about things, they’re wildly misinterpreted, exaggerated or embellished stories that he’s convinced are correct when they’re blatant nonsense. There may be some very basic truth underpinning them somewhere, but it’s often hard to tell what it is.
The animated TV series, therefore, cherry-picks some of the best moments from their recordings. It was produced by HBO in America, and also broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK, airing between 2010 and 2012. It’s very funny indeed, and I own all 3 series on DVD. It still gets shown on the TV as well, I know Comedy Central have been repeating it recently here in the UK. So here’s my review of the series, which I hope you enjoy!
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Ricky Gervais – Stand-Up DVD & Netflix Reviews
Updated since original publication to include all of his specials up to 2025.
Comedian, actor and writer Ricky Gervais has released several stand-up specials on DVD and Netflix over the years. He naturally isn’t to everyone’s taste, and he is understandably seen as controversial or offensive by some. His shows are 18-rated with good reason, because his humour is often very rude and he sometimes covers very dark topics. So it’s fine if some people feel offended by him, that’s their choice to hold such an opinion, and they’re under no obligation to watch him. Comedy is very subjective and open to interpretation, and we’re all different. I’m not going to say whether people should enjoy his comedy or not, and I wouldn’t expect other people to tell me either.
All I can say is that I like his stand-up comedy personally, and I’ve never felt offended by anything in his shows. For me, it always comes down to context, which often gets removed when people report on certain routines or share carefully edited clips on social media. As Ricky has sometimes gone out of his way to explain quite clearly, joking about a particular subject isn’t a representation of a comedian’s views about that subject, nor is laughing about it a reflection on the audience’s views. I don’t agree with the sentiments expressed in every joke he makes, and I don’t find every single joke funny, yet I still enjoy his act. Because that’s what it is – an act, not a factual lecture. Every stand-up comedian portrays a character on stage, it’s escapism. Ricky’s stage persona is not the real Ricky.
In any case, the reason I like him isn’t because of the type of material he does – after all, there are various ‘edgy’ comedians who I dislike, and plenty of far tamer comedians who I love. I just like him because I find him funny. And his routines have no influence on my own personal beliefs, opinions and behaviours, because I know where to draw the lines. I also know that, in reality, he’s a big supporter of rights and equality, including animal welfare, gay marriage, mental health issues, etc. So that’s my interpretation and opinion of his work.
So with all that said, let’s get on to the shows themselves. Each of his stand-up specials, lasting around 70-80 minutes, is loosely based on a particular theme, although he does go off on plenty of tangents as well. And there are naturally some topics that come up repeatedly, including his true views on religion (which I do agree with to a fair extent as I’m an atheist like him), his privileged position, his own health and getting older, fat people (i.e. those who could improve through healthier living but choose not to), charity work, animals, political correctness, and his radio producer friend Karl Pilkington (who has a uniquely strange perspective on the world). But he does talk about other things too. And even when topics are revisited, there are usually new jokes and observations, so it doesn’t feel too repetitive. At most he might do an occasional callback to something he said in a previous show, to set the scene for a new joke he’s about to make.
So, for me, there’s a good variety of funny material in each of his gigs, and there’s a nice collection of extras on his DVDs as well. Hence I thought I would do a review of all his shows, and I hope you enjoy reading about them.
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