Coogan Vs Gervais.

(and what chap said)

They both really only ever play one character, and I prefer Coogan's. Simple as. He's also worked with by far the superior co-leads and writers.

doesn't mean he's not funny

it's close, though. but not that close.
i don't rate Extras.

as the one i'd rather have a pint with: gervais.

and this is an argument for gervais?

Even "Something that tells you that you are right and everyone else is wrong".

http://epistaxis.stodge.org/archives/date/2005/03/

Still the funniest half-hour of radio not masterminded by Chris Morris or Humphrey Lyttelton.

'the office' is good but its reputation has been inflated out of all proportion.

Or 'funny'?

Coogan is good at 'painful'. Paved the way on TV etc.

Louis is right inasmuch as Hamlet is clearly a v funny piss-take of Jacobean tragedies.

Though yeah, some comedy has arguably moved away from 'funny', it gets its laughs elsewhere these days.

Little Britain isn't the biggest, I guess. That would be the tea-time Jamie Theakston kiddicom that they screened about two or three years back.

xpost

(Which reminds me, Ms. Tate operates at roughly the same level as Messrs Walliams and Lucas)

Did anybody laugh, by the way?

On ITV, H&L were rotten and h&p@bbc sank without trace. I'm sure they're bitter that all their supposed alt-com new bezzie mates got the fear and ran away in the early '90s.

Of all ILXors I'd expect you to have the greatest insight here, Henry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Littlejohn

-- Why does my IQ changes? (noodle_vagu...), September 18th, 2006.

http://www.billrotelladrumbeatings.com/rimshot.gif

I was just going to make a partridge vs brent poll but saw this thread. partridge by a loong margin btw

the c&b people have such bafflingly terrible mirror universe opinions on us comedy. like surely the us > uk office thing is just pure spite right

also of course it's coogan

http://picasion.com/pic6/17e7cc34b03503b88f5791cfaa7679f8.gif

w/e!!!!!!

Coogan on desert island discs this Sunday (repeated thursday i think)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n4754

Think I'd suggest ban for how awful that animated gif looks upthread.

Both very likeable. I think the difference is Gervais is not always (trying to be) funny, but still fun to watch. Also Gervais is a better writer.

really love both these guys

Podcast of http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/dailybacon/dailybacon_20100719-1643a.mp3"">Gervais and Karl Pilkington talking to Lord Mandelson on BBC 5 Live (it's right at the end).

Needless to say, the dark one owns them.

Blurgh, stupid link.

'Highlight from same thread: "Russ Abbot's Madhouse is better than Green Wing". I suppose that might be true, in the same way that Lieutenant Pigeon is better than The Bravery.'

Lieutenant Pigeon is better than most things

Coogan's superiority has surely become clearer with time.

Even over Lt Pigeon.

This might be OK. Maybe.

Sorry, the link's messed up. It's The Trip, sixth panel down on the right.

Yeah, I'm guessing that will be OK.

no thread on the trip... ?

i was just thinking that

We been talkin' in the UK comedy thread.

we've been talkin' on my facebook wall.

i think it's really weird there's no thread on 'the trip'

it's so good
and so strange. taking into account that i haven't been watching much tv at all in the past couple of years, let alone much UK tv. coming in cold tbh, so maybe that's why i think its tone is so strange, in an interesting way, of course.
maybe i will read yr fb wall, slocks

it's very very good
and also sometimes
not good
and often
nothing much at all
it's very mixed in a way!!
but the good bits are good enough
that you think of it as very good

well, yes, i think you're right. here are my different words that sort of say the same kind of thing:
i just also think i've never seen anything quite like it, which is interesting in itself. i'm a bit miffed by it too, partly because i know that i'm certainly not getting all the jokes (b/c i do not watch much tv let alone british tv), but also because i don't think a lot of it is even meant to be funny! some of it is, for sure. much of it is sad. or neutral. it's life, but not tv life, actual parts of life, boring bits and all, with the overcast blah feeling and everything. i think they nailed that. but of course it's also tv and celebrity and $$. and there's no catharsis, which i like.

someone start a thread on the trip

I mean we have one on the doctor who bloke's "sherlock" and every second american show, so

and the premise itself is just kind of brilliantly ridiculous, sending an actor/comedian to go write about fancy food in northern england? i'm very into poking fun at all the cooking/restaurant tv shows, so that great to me. also as in, you could spend your time watching those shows abt foods you will never cook and restaurants you will never go to and it all looks rather lovely if not exciting, or you could spend your time watching these two guys be occasionally funny and entertaining but often not in pretty if boring places.
xp

i think we need a thread if only so i can rewrite my ramblings

I like the programme a lot
probably more than any programme apart from footy, this year, at least
it's important to me
cos I like impressions

but the fact is, minute for minute, this programme is not really all it should be
or usually half it should be
because most of the time Brydon starts a great impression
and Coogan slaps him down
so the pleasure is gone

I like the idea of culture / art about real life, so
I am on your side about that, Rrrrrrobyn, in theory - very much so
it's something I have been saying for ages
but again - this is somewhat life-like
but then again
not altogether
cos in real life you wouldn't need to be as boring as Coogan mostly is in this programme

I suppose I am finding myself saying Coogan ruins this programme
but this is no slight on Coogan's fantastic abilities as an impressionist
which he grudgingly deploys here
from time to time

and the premise itself is just kind of brilliantly ridiculous, sending an actor/comedian to go write about fancy food in northern england?

this is actually a fairly realistic premise imo.

Rrobyn - you're supposed to be reporting back on Uncle Boonmee on the Apichatpong Weerasethakul thread. Jim in Glasgow is MIA on that film as well. (Ahem)

ps / yes, it is a fairly realistic premise

it ain't on iplayer anymore? fuckers.

dvd is out now

they should have just done a show of impressions, like alistair macgowan, and drop all the angst and michael nyman and media-class introversion

i guess it's a realistic premise in the wacky world of tv ideas... in england... but seriously, on paper it looks ridic imo. actors are supposed to act and entertain, not tell us what to eat! i mean, who cares! this is part of the show though, celebrity.
i do think that coogan is sometimes boring in this but it makes sense to me.

think the fact that coogan has been hired by The Observer is pretty relevant. the paper has a history of hiring comedians to write for them - both chris morris and david mitchell have had columns in the paper. and really, newspapers in the uk are so fucked, and so besotted by idea that celebrity boosts circulation, that the idea isn't at all ridiculous

yeah, it's not at all improbable as a premise -- possibly brydon's ability to clear a week at the drop of a hat is unlikely, but that's all

that's why i said *in england*!

maybe i should have said *not canada* tho

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/feb/05/top-gear-offensive-steve-coogan

OTFM Steve.

Can't believe the BBC have essentially defended these twats and told them to carry on.

yeah it's good shit, that, partly coz coogan is a petrolhead himself (i think)

Don't wholly agree with Coogs's "strong ethical dimension to the best comedy" arguments tho.

xp yeah, he's been on Top Gear, got a serious fast car fetish.

He owns a red Ferrari!

I think by ethical dimension he means 'bullying isn't funny'.

Wd find relentless bullying of Richard Hammond quite funny.

would partake in relentless bullying of everyone involved in top gear

"Clarkson always seems blissfully unaware of just how Partridge-like he is. In fact he's worse than Partridge - he's what Partridge would be like if he'd been successful"

I'd remembered this as being something Coogan had pointed out but it's in the comments. OTM.

just reminds me of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0i0RXMvzMs

a not particularly compelling rebuttal from clarkson: http://i.imgur.com/mN3MB.jpg

Just saw 'The Trip'.

I see.

Its good!

Yeah, I enjoyed it. Coogan's pretty good at loathesome existentialism.
It was quite pretty, too.

I'm watching The Trip and it is oddly touching and nostalgic for me (also hilarious), the inn at whitewell used to have old timey porn papering the men's bathroom, it was scandalous

this seems tortuously bad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3UvuoCFDcs

I have seen two episodes. If you like schmaltzy music playing over slow-mo montages of old people being adorable, this is the show for you.

Karl Pilkington is quite good in it though, furthering the theory that his persona is more or less completely fake.

Dunno about that, I mean I was listening to those xfm shows where he'd make a comment or two as producer for the longest time without much note being taken until he was gradually given more opportunities to speak because those rare comments tended to be a bit off.. seems to me he was discovered there and then

of course there will be several layers of awareness to it now, no matter how it started out, which means he won't be too funny that way.

Well I think he's genuinely got a deadpan and odd sense of humour. I certainly don't think he's stupid though. He knows what he's doing.

i like karl but just... what is gervais going for here, its like he channeling this memorable performance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCzrEUKcy9Q

not sure which is more annoying, ricky gervais or pinefox's formatted posts upthread

I found Derek genuinely offensive.

I always found Gervais a loathsome individual and didn't like any of his material but found him easy to ignore. After Derek I started wishing slow painful death upon him, it is grossly offensive and there is no way it could have been funny. The comedy of belittling disabled people belongs to the dark ages.

gervais and baron cohen are scum trash

fuck them forever. no concessions.

The thing is he isn't trying to belittle disabled people. He is just that clueless that he thinks Derek is charming, heartwarming, and earnest; rather than what it is, which is bizarre and cringeworthy.

He is belittling the disabled and the fact that it is a dismal failure as comedy is irrelevant to the offence and anger.

Coogan, didn't even read this. No comparison.

i just don't even get why he would do this...its really weird. i started watching one on youtube and was like no way can i watch this after about five minutes of it. he'll always have the office, i guess. one claim to fame is better than none. i did think that show was pretty great.

yeah I rewatched that recently, it still holds up, anything post that is to be avoided pretty much, that episode of the Simpsons with him on is unwatchable

its like the band with the debut album that everyone loves and then...

maybe he's the elastica of comedy.

he should have gone away after the office and not done interviews and been like the j.d. salinger of comedy and then come back like 10 years later with something halfway decent and then he could have been the my bloody valentine of comedy. and people would have been excited about whatever the hell he did probably. he wasted his cache. he had cache.

The Office is better than a lot of what Coogan's been involved in but it was funnier when you could fool yourself that there was more distance between Gervais and Brent than there ultimately turned out to be.

Obviously there's a lot of grey area between Coogan and Partridge as well but Coogan is more than aware of that and has devoted a lot of his career to it. You get the feeling Gervais was just using Brent as a vehicle to make the sort of jokes he basically wanted to, even as he was pretending to savage that character. Partridge has always been more weirdly sympathetic.

i have to give him full credit for the office. its such a fully-realized character no matter what he himself turned out to be like. he totally created a world and that includes all the other great characters in the show and he certainly showed people news(ish) possibilities for t.v. comedy. what people have done with that can be great and not so great of course. but its amazing how many people took inspiration from it.(though there had been similar things before it like larry sanders and christopher guest movies and stuff like that.)

coogan i don't know so well. i recently watched a couple of episodes of saxondale and felt like i had seen enough. kind of a glut of those kind of shows on netflix though. i started watching the other one about the boozer working-class dad with the kids and stopped watching that too after awhile. i forget the name. you know the one. same thing happened with the other brit-cringe show about the guys who live together and i forget the name of that too. just tiresome after a while to me. the cringing on the office was some serious cringing. world class cringe humor.

Peep Show? best sitcom ever made

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

xp Alan Partridge a close second tbh

yeah peep show. that's the one. just got tired of it. maybe if i loved the dudes in it. but i guess i didn't. i like that american bro-medy more. about the three dudes who work in the office...and do drugs...and stuff. that one.

and its not better than trailer park boys either as far as netflix dudes behaving badly cringe shows.

I never really get why Americans always think it's about the cringe above all else. I guess that's the thing that initially hits you, a few ultra-cringey moments in a season. But once you're past that (possibly we have a higher threshold) there are so many more riches within. Best bits of Peep Show are just the main guys being pass-agg at each other and beautifully referencing shitty bits of British life

I say this as someone who recommended a lot of Brit comedy to 'comedy fans' in the states and got a lot of 'no... it was too awkward/cringey'.
Whereas I find something like Curb just leaves me slightly cold for the same reason.

it could be a cultural thing! there are cultures.

i mean i love Curb even though i haven't seen it in years.

xp at least two of them, I've heard

I accidentally recommended some disgusting stuff to this guy I later found out was a Mormon.

what was NV hahaing about?
I am on this thread instead of rehearsing a terrifying public talk I need to do

and there are cringe-worthy moments in pretty much every episode of peep show that i have seen. someone says something mean/bad/inappropriate...does something mean/bad/inappropriate...etc. post-seinfeld this describes a LOT of t.v. comedy so its not just peep show or whatever.

sorry i thought "Peep Show = best sitcom ever was laying it a bit thick"

and thinking about, the chunks where it doesn't work very well are probably because of this need to set up stupidly elaborate cringe moments. there's no denying that comedy of cringe has been a very deliberate thing for ages.

I think it's brilliant
It stands up to repeated viewings more than most. It resonates with me very strongly, the social fear, awkwardness, self-delusion and desperate reliance on pop culture references as shorthand. It's not flawless, there are a lot of dumb storylines but some of the incidental stuff is just golden. I appreciate only people of a certain mindset would think this.

xp yeah I'd agree they're the worst part of Peep Show. Eating the dog was the absolute nadir.

i think some of the brit show characters are too...real? for me? like the repellent characters really do remind me of people who would repel me in real life. so, i guess i prefer the fantasyland/comic book characters of american t.v. or even canadian t.v. if i think of trailer park boys. they are so over the top. if the characters from parks & rec or trailer park boys or the guys from that comedy central bro-medy that i like came in my store i think i would be really entertained by them as people! they are so goofy and deranged. if the peep show guys or saxondale guy came in i think i would hate them. i'm more of a gary marshall kinda guy. not a ken loach kinda guy. when all is said and done.

i did enjoy withnail & i when i was younger. its been a while. see, now, abfab, that was suitably over the top for me. cartoon characters. i got a kick out of that.

The Young Ones! that's more my speed.

I loved The Trip

www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8BPP4ASQWo

The Young Ones hasn't aged well. I think I must have been about 9 when it was aired and it was funny at the time. When you are a kid you don't realise that you will hate the insidious fucker who made this program by the time you grow up.

I'm a fan of all coogan's collaborations with Michael Winterbottom, come to think xp

the trip is really amazing on many levels.

I think I must have been about 9 when it was aired and it was funny at the time.

I first watched it aged about 9, and it was hands down the funniest thing I'd seen in my life. Obviously less good as an adult, but being the most hilarious ever to a child is a perfectly worthwhile achievement.

Got to admit stuff like Vyvian eating the television was very fucking funny when you are a kid .

at the time the chimney sweep urchin stuck in the chimney with santa was one of the most brilliant things i'd ever seen on t.v. "i'll have you know i'm a well-regarded fictional character!" (paraphrasing. its been years...)

Santa, we're free!

Got to admit stuff like Vyvian eating the television was very fucking funny when you are a kid .

― Damo Suzuki's Parrot

To license inspector: "It's a toaster!"

i started watching the other one about the boozer working-class dad with the kids

royle family?

Or Shameless?

oh god of course.

comments upthread about david brent just being an excuse for gervais to be gervais are otm.

coogan's work is a far better slow burn, and he's better at endurance. kmky holds up; saxondale holds up. and, he can string partridge out across ~20 years without any loss in quality.

i don't know how many people outside the ~acting~ industry will be watching extras in five years' time. derek is possibly the most self-consciously awful thing i have ever seen. i don't know of any other comedy writer/performer who would damage-control their use of the word 'spaz' to the extent of casting themselves as one in a delicate, sympathetic, heart-warming sitcom.

yeah, Shameless. its not bad really i'd just had enough after 5 episodes or so.

the trip is really amazing on many levels.

― Evil Juice Box Man (LocalGarda), Sunday, September 22, 2013 4:47 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i love it

Can't stand Gervais, and Extras is excerable.

I love Alan Partridge and the Trip but some of Coogan's other characters leave me cold tbh. Overall hes great tho. His Tony Wilson I especially loved in 24hpp.

Yeah Coogan was responsible for a run of dreadful characters in the 90s but I will forgive him everything for Partridge. There is literally no other comic character on British TV more enduring.

The Trip (and the great Cock & Bull) is the other side of Coogan that works I think. Like he (or that version of himself) is aware he is an arsehole but you at least get the sense he would genuinely prefer not to be. You don't get that sense with Gervais at all, or even any real sense of self-awareness post- that first season of Extras.

winterbottom/coogan collab took a serious nosedise imho w/ Look of Love, which came off as an attempt to Patridge-ise, uncritically, some p unsavoury people and attitudes

and there are cringe-worthy moments in pretty much every episode of peep show that i have seen. someone says something mean/bad/inappropriate...does something mean/bad/inappropriate...etc. post-seinfeld this describes a LOT of t.v. comedy so its not just peep show or whatever.

first experience with the 'cringe of the week' phenomenon was the wonder years iirc

coogan all day. nothing compares to the trip, tho cock and bull story is obviously very much in the same vein. never got into partridge.

winterbottom/coogan collab took a serious nosedise imho w/ Look of Love, which came off as an attempt to Patridge-ise, uncritically, some p unsavoury people and attitudes

― Ward Fowler, Monday, 23 September 2013

oh i didn't know this one. i shoud have looked up all their work before posting that -- was referring to 24 hour party people, a cock & bull story and the trip

never got into partridge.

smell my cheese you mother

was saxondale really shit? i never got into it at all.

I liked the first two and never went back

saxondale improved in leaps and bounds (as per coogan's usual slow burn)

I watched the first three or four episodes of Saxondale and there didn't appear to be any jokes.

it was kind of 'oh, it's THAT guy' but done pretty well iirc. I haven't revisited though.

alone on this i know but i found the trip was boring, self-indulgent and not all that funny. not saxondale-level crap but certainly not coogan's best. baffled by all the love for it on here.

the Michael Caine bit was funny

after that I didn't really care

It's pretty good but Cock and Bull was better.

It was super funny all the way, not much more to say. Best parts were them singing ABBA and other moments where they forgot their competitive one-upping and lost themselves in a joke.

Apparently they've already shot the sequel?

alone on this i know but i found the trip was boring, self-indulgent and not all that funny. not saxondale-level crap but certainly not coogan's best. baffled by all the love for it on here.

There was one overriding problem with it, Rob Brydon was in it

I've seen very unfunny shows with Brydon in it but that's partly why he's so funny in The Trip.

The Trip's deleted scenes are better than most show's un-deleted bits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGqj3WbHDvA

I dont mind Brydon! He plays obnxious well. Unlike Gervais.

i dug the Trip more than the other coogbottom thing i seen, 24 hour party poople

24 Hour Party People is a cracking little film.

It really is, I must watch it again.

brydon's strength is character, so it's unfair (to a point) to lay into him for being an unfunny comedian. human remains was fabulous.

Was that the one where he's sat in the car all the time talking to himself?

He did a couple of good turns in "People Like Us" as well IIRC.

marion and geoff xp, which was pretty good too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LljWm8umGIE

GARRY SHANDLING: I'm sure that you're not happy casting any Jews for your show. That's the feeling I get. I mean i'm starting to get the feeling that you're not comfortable around Jewish people.
RICKY GERVAIS: Are you Jewish? You're not Jewish.
GARRY SHANDLING: Yeah, I was raised Jewish..you know, good one on you, good one on you..are you happy now?
RICKY GERVAIS: Yeah.
GARRY SHANDLING: Ok, good, because make sure you cut so it looks like you won.

(phone rings)
GARRY SHANDLING:That's my ass detector and it's gone off because you're here.

i lasted about 90 seconds into derek, his weird underbite was just freaking me the fuck out

anyway... the office is brilliant, it's great, it's totally totally unimpeachable. and whether that has anything to do with how close he is to the character or not is frankly irrelevant

extras, i could never get into, just dont like winky celebrity humour

but the first season of his podcast was pretty great as well

i dunno

as far as him as a man he doesnt seem any worse to me than any other celebrity but maybe im missing something

I love the first season of his podcast too, and even the second season, but it's really all about Karl innit

ok i watched half of the ad for derek upthread and it really is like they took everything possible to make a tv show totally unappealing for me personally and put it all in one tv show

I love the first season of his podcast too, and even the second season, but it's really all about Karl innit

― polyphonic, Wednesday, September 25, 2013 4:30 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no he is definitely a huge part of why that show, and even the pilkington gag, works at all

like his incredulity at karl's antics is totally why they're so funny

I think they're PART of why it's funny and yeah he's good in it grumble grumble

it's like
tinkly piano music
ricky gervais doing a stupid face with a stupid wig
fake-looking bald cap
soft focus
old people
mawkishness
no jokes
literally couldn't understand a full sentence anyone said

its a nightmare

its sooooo beyond mawkish. there isn't enough mawk in the world to describe that show.

it's as mawkish as robin williams dressed as mawk from mawk and mindy but reciting the lines from patch adams. pretty mawkish

photosofrickygervaiswithhismouthopen.tumblr.com

Fuck off already: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3137630/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

^ http://o.canada.com/2013/09/04/ricky-gervais-not-making-david-brent-movie/

Gervais actively ruined the episodes of Louie he was in, whereas Coogan's appearance in Curb is great.

didn't think coogan's guest spot in curb was all that good - SC played a character he wasn't v good at & didn't suit, kinda seemed like a 101 american vision of a shifty brit. remember finding it really odd and unconvincing at the time. gervais's simpsons episode is probably tv history's all-time 'good god what is this godforsaken shite' though so coogan wins

I just enjoyed watching him get shafted by Larry and Leon, it wasn't a great performance in itself or anything, agreed.

i think that was the point where curb had fully recovered from the nadir of s4 so yeah, nice that coogan was involved with it getting great again

Gerv was DREADFUL in Louie, it's true

naw he was pretty funny

S4 is a nadir!?!?? "I'd fuck her with a Bush mask on!" ffs!

the fact that i can't even remember gervais being in louie speaks volumes

tbh i've not seen it for years - planning a rewatch of the entire run soon - but i remember that being a dreadful series. like larry realised he was just rehashing the same lazy plots so tried something a bit different but ended up with a really unengaging and unfunny story. thought this was established fact? it took the browns, namely leon, to really bring it back to brilliance.

i only watched a few episodes of louie - not a fan - but saw the one with gervais as doctor, where he was playing gervais mk2: the annoying pisstaker. he's done some appalling things these past few years but that was only middlingly appalling really

gervais was hilarious in louie imo, and i find him pretty annoying.

so life's too short, that was totally shit. but the liam neeson bit is one of the funniest scenes i've ever watched, i was crying with laughter, literally, the first time i saw this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hce4H_dSZgU&noredirect=1

that scene was the exact moment i realised 'life's too short' had nothing to do with warwick davis's character and everything to do with gervais

a shattering revelation

it was dire.

WD's character IS pure Gervais and nothing else

Pretty decent in Louie as a one off joke yeah. I mean he's usually not bad when he doesn't go sentimental which he does in everything from late Extras an onwards.

a shattering revelation

i had held out hope for almost 15 minutes

WD's character IS pure Gervais and nothing else

well yeah, but at least it wasn't actually gervais the person (at least initially)

saw the new Coogan/Frears joint in a cute old cinema in the Lake District tonight. occurred to me for the first time to bother realising why Coogan and Normal's company is called that. irl FFSed @ myself.

Coogan interview here is pretty great. him doing *his* Kinnock vs his version of Chris Barrie's Kinnock is truly something.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03hhwvn/Mark_Lawson_Talks_To..._Steve_Coogan/

I was trying to decide this one, and the only thing that spoke in Gervais' favour was The Office. Looking back at The Office, it's amazing how far G has fallen, really.

occurred to me for the first time to bother realising why Coogan and Normal's company is called that. irl FFSed @ myself.

what's the answer

Lawson interview was good, mainly for the great array of facial tics Coogan has.

conrad - what is a...

o

✓

Anyone watching The Trip to Italy? More of the same obviously but I'm fine with that. Insanely envious of the scenery/food. I want to be on that boat!

watched the first ep, felt a bit like a victory lap, not nearly as surprising or funny

First ep wasn't great. the part with brydon questioning coogan as if at a murder trial was my highlight.

can't watch episode two yet.

cant or wont

Is not nearly as good so far, but beautiful

watched episode 1, looooved it

Amazing in hindsight that the thread title was ever a serious question.

Gervais to do David Brent movie

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-28660536

thought this would be abt the discovery that he hired a PR company to make a fansite to call him a genius, that he humbly retwooted over and over, after his old fansite got fed up with his narcissistic schtick

link?

gervais was good in muppets 2 tbf

even more irritating is the belief that steven merchant is somehow the real brains behind the office, radio shows etc. his stand-up show from a couple of years back demolishes that idea. just hard for some bros to compute that certain people react really really badly to acclaim, fame, praise etc and turn into what gervais did about a decade back

THURSDAY, 31 JANUARY 2013

Derek Episode 1 Review
Ricky Gervais's genius scripting of the phrase 'Tadpole Hitler' in Derek not only created a hashtag furore on Twitter last night, but urged me to do something spontaneous for once and buy the domain tadpolehitler.com. This site will be a dedicated fansite to the already critically-acclaimed Derek, as well as all the other Gervais genius creations, as he continues to do what so many others fail to do - create TV gold time and time again.

Derek is already dubbed a 'controversial character,' but why it has such an unfounded reputation, I don't know. Derek was compassionate, ground-breaking TV and is already an instant classic. From Dougie's ridiculous hair and Kev's sex-crazed foolery, to Hannah's battles with the authorities and Derek's innocence, we have a TV comedy drama like no other.

With big thought-provoking topics such as the percentage of elderly people who die when re-homed and why it is actually unimportant to find out whether or not Derek has autism (or tism?) we then laugh at Karl Pilkington's character when he's called "an egg with sideburns." Karl plays Dougie, who is basically Karl Pilkington, so in his first real acting role he has little problem getting into character!

Derek is fantastic storytelling interspersed with superb comedy moments. For me, on the back of An Idiot Abroad, Karl Pilkington stole the show and he showed the acting world that not only can he moan and say all sorts of delightful, insightful wonders in his own life, but he can also act like the best of them. I'm sure you will all agree that you could really feel his genuine anger in the closing moments of the show.

Well done Ricky - you've struck gold again and I'm already looking forward to episode 2 next week!

is this guy. he's removed a link from there, and this has also been taken down in the last week.

The blog, tadpolehitler.com (as bizarre as that sounds) has had nearly a quarter of a million page views in three months

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2cMG33mWVY

even more irritating is the belief that steven merchant is somehow the real brains behind the office, radio shows etc. his stand-up show from a couple of years back demolishes that idea. just hard for some bros to compute that certain people react really really badly to acclaim, fame, praise etc and turn into what gervais did about a decade back

― NI, Wednesday, August 6, 2014 3:09 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark

I think most people gave up on this after the Hello Ladies tv show

couldn't face watching it but a quick google brings the cheery news that hbo cancelled it in january. if anything merchant was always worse than gervais. in the early radio stuff what little he said was more unpleasant than funny, lot of sneery sexist hateful stuff. always got the impression gervais let him piggyback along because he got on with him, rather than for his input - SM's voice hardly as strong as pilkington's, say. rumours floating around that RG and SM aren't on best terms lately, working on separate projects, not been seen on screen/radio/public together for a long time, SM no longer credited on derek or idiot abroad, etc

I don't remember that from the radio days. I thought he was a pretty good teller of anecdotes then.

maybe i've re-evaluated him post-hello ladies but on a recent listen through all the podcasts and shows he doesn't add much to the party

Watching a repeat of Saxondale on Gold... As dull and joke free as I remember. Will anyone rep for it however many years on?

aww i kinda like saxondale tbh

He's a well-observed character, just not a particularly interesting or funny one.

I rewatched some / watched some I hadn't seen before earlier in the year and enjoyed it a lot. chap basically otm though

maybe i've re-evaluated him post-hello ladies but on a recent listen through all the podcasts and shows he doesn't add much to the party

as opposed to Ricky, who brings screeching mockery and abuse in lieu of anything funny or well-observed. at least Merchant tries to keep the conversation moving forward.

well, it's all about karl innit. his stoicism in the face of ricky's ott reactions is why it works so well. the russell brand/karl radio show is an interesting one; two v funny guys (imo) but such little chemistry and the whole thing falls flat. it's as if karl feeds off ricky's obnoxious abusive energy

I think it's really cool how he's become david brent, obviously would be cooler if he was doing it intentionally as a performance piece Kaufman-style but it's still really amusing

Love Saxondale; think it's an underappreciated, quiet masterpiece.

watched a few episodes, liked it, never went back for more tho

neither would be that awesome to have a pint with I reckon.

Coogan would be a fine drinking companion if he was in a good mood I reckon (I am basing this largely on The Trip).

Gervaise I'd imagine would be more verbose, insufferably so.

yeah, i feel that coogan would just despise you the whole time (otherwise, could well be a laugh).

Gervais on the other hand may just be annoying.

Or perhaps we would all just be doing rounds of Ladyboys.

Ah ladyboys!

Though I think it's entirely possible Gervais is a much nicer man than his public persona would suggest.

saxondale is wonderful

the alan partridge movie was terrible; don't expect a david brent movie to be good either. both of these guys are better than those characters these days. I watched a few episodes of Derek and found it rather good. A little GErvais goes a long way.

i could not watch more than 30 seconds of derek without screaming with disgust and shame

akm's post is wrong on almost every level

I aim to displease

are you going to tell me alpha papa was funny? or good? or at all worth the time I invested in watching it, desperately waiting for something funny to happen?

http://static.bips.channel4.com/bse/604x340/derek/caf0a7d8-c8e5-4c6e-92bf-54d9eb3cda14_625x352.jpg

It...had its moments

The biography and Mid Morning Matters are up there with anything in the Partridge oeuvre though, so I don't think it's fair to say Coogan has outgrown the character. If anything his understanding of him has grown deeper

Also you like Derek

I have never seen Derek, can it really be as bad as it looks?

http://returnonx.com/netflix-belikederek-campaign-grows-audience-gains-11-engagement/

The social media campaign is built around the idea of being kind and generous to the elderly. Posts from the @BeLikeDerek Twitter shows daily acts of kindness and encourages fans to tweet their favorite lines from the show using the hashtag #BeLikeDerek.

god, I hadn't come across this before, but the one person I've met who used to frequently evangelise about the brilliance of Gervais generally (and Derek specifically) was a 'social media guru' employed at my workplace

Alpha Papa is about as funny as you'd expect an Alan Partridge movie to be and doesn't feature a lot of learning disability jokes as far as i remember

i could not watch more than 30 seconds of derek without screaming with disgust and shame

m(_ _)m

alpha papa was hilarious

Watched the first episode of Derek and it was horribly depressing and offensive, though possibly more entertaining than Hello Ladies, which was just nothing.

The biography and Mid Morning Matters are up there with anything in the Partridge oeuvre though, so I don't think it's fair to say Coogan has outgrown the character. If anything his understanding of him has grown deeper

The version of Alan in Alpha Papa is deliberately broader, and the world sketched in lighter, than in We Need To Talk About Alan and Welcome To The Places Of My Life , because it was made to be a wide-audience general-release film. The storytelling alone in Welcome To The Places is vastly more sophisticated. But there has been more high-level Alan material since the Gibbons started writing him than at any time in the character’s history. (Possibly even in total – the audiobook, as performed by Coogan, alone is almost eight hours!)

sic otm. that audiobook is the balls.

Partridge >>>>>>>>>>> Coogan

Everyone otm

The Pepsi challenge bit in welcome would prob be in my top 10 moments for the character

"Who gives a shit?"

That whole plot thread was handled so deftly, imagine how gervais/merchant would have done it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh8ihMWFV-I

Coogan and Brydon will do these dining travelogues til they drop

Coogan edges it for me for not being Gervais

Has Twitter been good for your comedy? It has. I can see a cross section of society a thousand times faster than I could’ve otherwise. I’ve got 13 million followers. That’s the world, really. I’ll tweet, “What’s a subject you should never joke about?” Some people fall for the trap and say something like, “Psoriasis.” Then I can come up with 10 minutes on that.

Sounds like a good 10 minutes.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/19/magazine/ricky-gervais-after-life-comedy-twitter.html

You might want to spend less time on social media. I’m fine as long as I can properly calibrate what’s there online and also still remember to walk outside in the sun.

That sounds like a drug addict saying, “I’m fine as long as I balance my uppers and downers.” I could be wrong. But no, I know I’m not.

RICKY G's CUT JOKES

"Surprised to see Tom Hanks here. I thought you died of AIDS!"

"Ellen's texting her pal George W. Bush, the finest murderer-turned-painter since John Wayne Gacy."

"If you think Elton John's hair rug is disturbing, you should get a peek at his fake pubes." pic.twitter.com/iOIuxLRUXw

— Dennis Perrin (@DennisThePerrin) January 6, 2020

Steve Coogan is heavily involved in this film, and acts in it with a strange accent which sounds like Steve Coogan but intermittently Scottish.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_King

Unfortunately the film is bad, though not because of Coogan.

Yeah the posters for that on the tube make it look very dire.

Still, unbelievable anyone could answer Gervais to this.

Yeah it looks shite, he is also playing Jimmy Saville in an upcoming thing which seems disastrously misjudged to me. Still easily better than fucking gervais tho lol cmon wtf

i would simply not fuck gervais

time to fuck sauron