I don’t know why I wasn’t more excited about the idea of The Ricky Gervais Show because I’m generally a fan of the British sense of humor and I like off-beat animations. What I don’t tend to like is ganging up on other people just for laughs and, depending on my mood and his performance, Ricky Gervais.
After watching the premiere episode of The Ricky Gervias show guess what I know with certainty that I like now? All of these things.
Before landing on HBO this season as an animated talk show featuring Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington, The Ricky Gervais Show was originally a show broadcast on Xfm in 1998 starring only Gervais and Merchant. It was canceled some six months later, but re-emerged in September 2001 starring Gervais, Merchant, and Pilkington. In 2005 it evolved again and began being offered as a podcast by Guardian Unlimited with the same three leads (Gervais, Merchant, and Pilkington). And now, more than ten years after originally debuting, The Ricky Gervais Show has evolved once again into a half hour HBO animated comedy talk show. I don’t know if it’s the final evolution, but I know I love it. I can’t speak with authority about the earlier evolutions having only heard a small selection of clips, but if those clips (and the new show) are any indication, this show has always been funny…in whatever form it took. And considering the show’s popularity and ability to keep re-inventing and re-animating itself (no pun intended), I think it’s safe to say that many people agree.
Though the sense of humor here skews a bit cruel, the basic premise is Gervais and Merchant sitting down to talk with their long time friend Pilkington (him of the perfectly round head) and essentially making fun of all his ideas, the reality is that the animation really helps soften the cruelty and make it more palatable. For me at least. Those of stronger stuff might wish to see Pilkington’s actual reactions, but I prefer the once removed animated version of him which allows me to laugh with abandon since it doesn’t seem quite so humiliating or personal. For what it’s worth, and if the first episode is any indication, Pilkington’s a great sport and his ideas – some of them truly insane – are a comedy goldmine. I hope he’s being well paid…or something…because while Gervais and Merchant are no slouches and their reactions and commentary are equally hilarious, without Pilkington there really would be no show…at least not in this current evolution which revolves around Pilkington’s off the wall impossible ideas.
Additionally, because of the animation the show doesn’t devolve into just talking heads – which work fine for radio and podcasts – but are far less interesting when on television. In addition to some fun being had with the character designs of each gentleman, there are also short segments throughout the episode presented as cartoons while the hosts narrate the action. The results are some great visual gags that would really be lost in a live action talk show.
Of course there’s an argument to be made that the animated version of these gentlemen (two of them established comedy actors) are less expressive and interesting to watch than the real men would be, but I found the positives of using animation to far outweigh the negatives.
There are already plenty of straight live action talk shows out there – and precious few animated ones. If all the animated ones can be this good I say bring them on…let’s start a revolution! Oh how I would love to see an animated Conan O’Brien, or Jon Stewart! Maybe they can work short animated Conan segments into whatever new show/network manages to pick him up.
The Ricky Gervais Show airs Friday nights on HBO at 9pm and premiered on Friday, February 19th.
You can watch clips of the first two episodes online at HBO.com. Other clips are currently available for free on itunes and you can find many of the old podcasts (etc) on Youtube (many of them are worth the time). I also highly recommend, for a good laugh, Gervais’ recent interview with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show – there’s a partial clip of it here.
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Kelly is a freelance writer and artist living in New York who is relatively obsessed with comics and feminism, which generally make horrible bedfellows and explains a lot of her recurring headaches. You can read her rantings about such things at: http://1979semifinalist.wordpress.com