Gervais and Pilkington film sitcom pilot

[Ignatius_S]

Mentioned in passing in the Life's Too Short thread:

Ricky Gervais has been filming a pilot of a new series set in an old folks' home.

The ensemble piece features his sidekick Karl Pilkington in his first proper acting role as well as Cemetery Junction actor David Earl – known on the comedy circuit for the character Brian Gittins.

It's believed the show revolves around Gervais's character Derek Noakes, a mentally challenged aspiring comedian who loves animals and still lives with his mum.

Gervais has been dropping hints about the show on his blog and on Twitter, without giving too much away, but including a photograph of Pilkington in character.

He wrote: 'Finished filming the little pilot with Karl today. We both had the best time ever. He really got a buzz out of acting. He was playing a complete weirdo div useless miserable bald-headed Manc twat. He nailed it.

And in a separate tweet he added: 'Couldn't get through a scene with David Earl being a letch and Karl as a celibate..."I'm not bothered" Everyone corpsing, every take.'

Earlier this month Charlie Hanson – who produced Extras, Life'sLife's Too Short, and Cemetery Junction – revealed that Gervais was about to start work on a secret new Channel 4 project.

He refused to be drawn on details, but told the Cofilmic comedy film conference in Manchester: 'It may well change yet. Ricky will be in it and be one of the main people, with a couple of others.'...

http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2011/11/25/14392/gervais_pilots_old_folks_comedy#ixzz1eiLn0e8E

[kitsofan34]

Jesus Christ.

[The Roofdog]

If he's still going ahead with this after recent events he's either got balls of steel or he really is a complete fuckwit.

[madhair60]

Whatever kills him fastest.

[Dead kate moss]

Whatever kills him fastest.

I'm starting to get a career suicide vibe from him now.

[olliebean]

Maybe he thinks he's being the new Andy Kaufman.

[Noodle Lizard]

I'm starting to get a career suicide vibe from him now.

To be fair to him, the one thing he got right when defending himself from "the haters" is that people have been saying his career's over pretty much every time he releases something.  Hasn't happened yet.

Although this is definitely the lowest point so far, I think you could actually prove it, regardless of "subjectivity".

[Dead kate moss]

Maybe he thinks he's being the new Andy Kaufman.

That's an interesting thought. It's been speculated that he's trying to be like Louis CK, but can't pull it off... but some of his comments about not giving the public what they want maybe mean he has delusions of genius (The Office probably was genius... but just that)... and after trying the Hollywood route to some piddlingly uninspiring results, he may have some desire to be a legend of comedy via some impossible to scrutinise route.... but it does seem more likely he's out of ideas and doesn't understand why others aren't finding cruel comedy about humiliating dwarves as funny as it gets. One benefit of career suicide is that you can always pretend you could have kept doing popular stuff if you felt like it, but just had to 'follow your muse'.

[Little Hoover]

I think he's just a bit of an idiot with a schoolboy's sense of humor.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I'm starting to get a career suicide vibe from him now.

I get the feeling that his career will mostly be over by (at a guess, obviously) 2015. There'll be this, a film, and maybe another sitcom which will all do badly, and then he'll find himself struggling for work, other than doing the stand up thing and appearances on panel shows. I find him easy to ignore so wouldn't have a problem if it weren't the case, but I know so many people who are fed up to the back teeth with him now, and not just CaB types, and it's been a long time since he's had a proper 'hit'.

Karl Pilkington will be more popular than ever though, and no doubt starring in Hollywood blockbusters. For it is a dark and disturbing future that I predict in general.

[RickyGerbail]

I think he's got a lot of mileages to get out of bullying pilkington. There are a lot of stupid people out there who love that stuff.

[Ignatius_S]

To be fair to him, the one thing he got right when defending himself from "the haters" is that people have been saying his career's over pretty much every time he releases something.  Hasn't happened yet.

Although this is definitely the lowest point so far, I think you could actually prove it, regardless of "subjectivity".

Personally, I would say that most people who are critical of Gervais - sorry, I mean the haters - haven't made such predictions. Some may have, but it's hardly been a majority view up to now. I don't recall recall anyone saying that his career was over when he started to do stand-up at major venues, or when Extras started, or when he starred in Ghost Town or when Cemetery Junction came out.

...Although this is definitely the lowest point so far, I think you could actually prove it, regardless of "subjectivity".

Only according a revisionist history of Gervais' career Meet Ricky Gervais has been airbrushed into oblivion. It was poorly received by the critics and the public, and was simply awful - Gervais, to his credit, has been critical of it. After that flop, I'm not sure how many people would have bet on Gervais getting another show.

Life's Too Short has yet to air on HBO and until it does, I don't think we can judge how successful the show is. Even if it fares badly there, the Flanimals film is on the cards, Gervais has a new stand-up show in the pipeline and is working on Afterlife, a new American show. All in all, rather more than what he had to look forward to after Meet Ricky Gervais.

[Utter Shit]

Yeah but that doesn't fit into CAB's narrative of the demise of Ricky Gervais.

[Dead kate moss]

Yeah. I reckon he'll abandon all those plans, make a submarine out of Karl Pilkington, and drown looking for Atlantean dwarves.

[Dead kate moss]

I'm starting to get a career suicide vibe from him now.

Hmmm

http://splitsider.com/2011/07/ricky-gervais-is-a-suicidal-clown

[Replies From View]

All these years after Chris Morris' radio shows, and this is what passes as controversial now?  Jesus Christ.  I don't want to pull that trigger, but I do want to grab that hair of his and yell some fucking sense into Gervais' lug holes.  It's clear from things like the Xfm shows that he's not an ignorant man - he has a good background in philosophy which he communicates well, and he has a decent moral core.  He now has more exposure than most other British comedians and he's wasting it by "speaking out" against "the politically correct crowd" or whatever.  It is utterly pathetic playground humour that he's defending against a completely imagined uproar.  What an absolute fucking dick.

[BritishHobo]

I have to say I'm pretty intrigued by the idea of a comedy-drama starring David Earl (who should definitely be getting more work) and Pilkington. Just a shame it seems to have to star Gervais, as well as potentially being fucking Derek.

[Ignatius_S]

All these years after Chris Morris' radio shows, and this is what passes as controversial now?...

The photo is a few month's old (not quite sure why it's been posted about again), and given the lack of controversy the first time, I'd say no.

.... he has a good background in philosophy which he communicates well, and he has a decent moral core...

Well, a degree in Philosophy – as for communicating, I'll take your word for it, but I've seen previous little demonstration.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Offensive or not, this is actually his last comedy idea left, is it not?

[Ignatius_S]

Offensive or not, this is actually his last comedy idea left, is it not?

Why would you say that?

[I accept the terms of the]

Well, he's done black people, the disabled, little people and himself. There's nothing else he finds funny.

[madhair60]

Well, he's done black people, the disabled, little people and himself. There's nothing else he finds funny.

What about Karl?

[Replies From View]

Ricky Gervais has been filming a pilot of a new series set in an old folks' home.

Do you see, old people smell of wee.

I wonder if he can do a face for that.

[Replies From View]

The photo is a few month's old (not quite sure why it's been posted about again), and given the lack of controversy the first time, I'd say no.

Sorry, I didn't mean the photo of him as a clown!  I meant the subject of the thread, which obviously represents the latest phase of Gervais' newfound eager-to-be-controversial gloating mentality.

[BlodwynPig]

Can we merge all the numerous Gervais threads together. I like my spite and hubris to be concentrated in one easy to access thread.

[madhair60]

I think there should be a subforum.

[DuncanC]

I think all threads should be for Gervais chat unless they opt out with [NOGERVAIS] in the subject title. And you're not allowed to go back and edit one in.

[Ignatius_S]

Sorry, I didn't mean the photo of him as a clown!  I meant the subject of the thread, which obviously represents the latest phase of Gervais' newfound eager-to-be-controversial gloating mentality.

Ah, got you - sorry!

[Neil]

(snipped stuff about him wearing red at the Globes, because some people think he's the devil)

Doing the final dub tomorrow on the Derek pilot.

Seems Stewart Lee's article on the Noakes show wasn't mentioned in here, so for completeness.  Gervais in response said "I guess he won't be asking me for any more quotes for his posters, ha ha."

Well I was wrong then.  Amazed he's going ahead with the Noakes thing.  A massive excercise in hubris, along with such a pronounced lack of new ideas that he's had to go back to pre-The Office stuff.

[Ignatius_S]

If the Devil does have the best tunes, there's a chance that he has the best jokes as well, so I think that rules out Gervais.

...Well I was wrong then.  Amazed he's going ahead with the Noakes thing.  A massive excercise in hubris, along with such a pronounced lack of new ideas that he's had to go back to pre-The Office stuff.

Well, there's still the Afterlife project but other than that everything else that's been announced are connected to old properties (unless one counts the Muppets film cameo).

However, with the Noakes character, I've felt that Gervais really does have an tremendous amount of affection towards him so in that way, I'm not surprised he's not letting go. Also, I don't get the impression that Gervais totally wants to commit to America and is keeping the high profile here as insurance.

BTW, does anyone remember when Gervais phoned into Chris Moyles' breakfast show as Derek?