Ricky Gervais - After Life [split topic]

[c]

I watched his 1999 pilot Golden Years - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uQ019iAcQM - a couple of weeks ago and it's pretty hateful stuff. It's based around a manager of an office who wants to be famous (so yeah, it's very Brent-ish) but it lacks all of the warmth of The Office and doesn't have a Tim/Dawn element in it and so it's nearly all Gervais all the time making sexist jokes, and there's nothing but cringe comedy throughout. It was co-written by Stephen Merchant as well so he has to take the blame for some of the pretty abhorrent content too.

I have three things:

1. He's obviously insisted that everyone on the set pronounce it Bow-ee. There must have been push back. He must have insisted.

2. It seems as if Gervais saw how much love the Dawn and Tim characters/storyline got in The Office and became jealous, insisting, even up to this day, that in everything he stars in, he shall have the storyline that everyone emotionally connects with. But it hasn't worked, has it?

3. I had a professional encounter with Gervais and Merchant circa Extras series one and they were both equally pugnacious, arrogant and objectionable, when there was no one else around to see them. Perhaps bad day etc etc but, if anything, Merchant was even more unpleasant than Gervais. 

[madhair60]

Watched the first two of these yesterday. Laced with utter contrivance. Some funny lines. Performances decent. Characters utterly unconvincing. Not as bad as Derek, I'll probably watch two more.

[phes]

Chilling.

See also the Derke-esque I feels good when I do's good things revelation. The impact he's had on everyone is barely acknowledged and the whole rampage is hastily concluded with some gift giving, before Gervais gets the poor me I have had such a terrible time of it, teary-eyed scene.

[notjosh]

It was a shit rampage anyway - hitting a teenager with some dogfood and eating some fish fingers with his hands. At least he killed a homeless or the whole thing would have been a total washout.

[Pancake]

The convo with Benchwoman where she really earnestly says he's good, a good hearted man with a good heart had me shaking my head very firmly, based on what, some shit he's told you about how he misses Deadwife?

[Blue Jam]

A Christmas Carol if Ebenezer Scrooge had secretly murdered someone before then trying to attend their funeral/cremation. Then simply shrugging the whole matter off after turning up late. Chilling.

To be fair, a modern-day version of A Christmas Carol is really original. No-one has ever done that before.

[Suky]

It's shit. He's shit.

Except even Gervais can't ruin performances by Roisin Conaty, (love Gameface), Kerry Godliman and Diane Morgan. The nurse may be ok but I don't want to watch him in a romantic context.

Pointless nitpicking: chasing the dragon isn't smoking some heroin in a cigarette.

'As the heroin rolls across the tin foil, the smoke moves with it and looks like a dragon. The user follows the smoke with their straw, hence "Chasing the dragon".' Suppose that character wouldn't know that so...aaaaaargh!

Only positive note is he's a bit flabbier which will be very hard to shift.

[Blue Jam]

After Life is probably very deep and complex if you've never seen or read anything good.

...or if you have repeatedly tried to read something good but you always have to stop because your brain keeps writing a better story and better characters.

[Crabwalk]

Well, I've now finished the series. The last two episodes are a hell of a slog, but there are a few chuckles to be had as a succession of women line up to tell Ricky Tony how funny, clever AND DON'T FORGET LOVELY he is.

It was an amazing journey the character went on to discover that being nice to people is better than being nasty to people. Yes, it's a shame a man had to die to earn Ricky the right to date again, but you can't make an omelette, etc.

Oh, and the note to 'Robbie' was almost as funny as Robot Grief Dog.

[Hey, Punk!]

You can tell that our Ricky isn't a reader. When he slips into his serious 'contemplative' mode, he delivers adolescent platitudes with all the solemnity he can muster. It is absolutely repulsive, he fills me with a raging urge to cave his stupid fucking face in. He definitely offends me, not because he giggles like a little school girl at such delightful words as mong, but that he genuinely believes he is someone speaking truth to power. I hate him with a fucking passion.

[Cuellar]

Sandy: "It's nice to be in work, bit of peace and quiet. I live with my parents and my siblings, so the house is full of life"
Gervais: [looks slightly downcast]
Sandy: "Oh, sorry"
Gervais: "What for?"
Sandy: "You're sad :("

[Crabwalk]

Making Brian Gittins appear in a crassly sentimental montage is a crime against comedy.

[phes]

You can tell that our Ricky isn't a reader

The impact of this has only just dawned on me. He even holds internet forums in contempt, considering them to be beneath him. I've completely taken for granted what almost twenty years of reading this place and others has given me. So what experience of creative writing has he to draw on? Presumably none whatsoever if his contribution to The Office and Extras was limited to what many suspect

[Blue Jam]

The impact of this has only just dawned on me. He even holds internet forums in contempt, considering them to be beneath him. I've completely taken for granted what almost twenty years of reading this place and others has given me. So what experience of creative writing has he to draw on? Presumably none whatsoever if his contribution to The Office and Extras was limited to what many suspect

Doesn't he also avoid watching new British films? Or does he just sneer at them but still give them a go? In any case he seems to be cutting himself off from a lot of creative work out there. Does he ignore new media too?

No wonder he hasn't moved with the times and is coming out with dated stuff like the design of that local newspaper office, playground jokes and material about Caitlyn Jenner which would have been current two years before Humanity.

That Esquire article comparing Gervais with Steve Coogan, describing how Coogan and his co-writers have have moved with the times while Gervais remains trapped in his bubble as a solo writer, makes even more sense now.

[Ferris]

...or if you have repeatedly tried to read something good but you always have to stop because your brain keeps writing a better story and better characters.

Do you reckon this affliction carries over to newspapers and restaurant menus, or is it only limited to literature?

[Blue Jam]

Do you reckon this affliction carries over to newspapers and restaurant menus, or is it only limited to literature?

He's still making jokes about peanuts on planes, he probably hasn't noticed that airlines serve other snacks now, so you're probably right. I bet he scans inflight menus looking for peanuts, hoping he can't find them so he'll have a bit of outrage porn to keep him occupied during the flight.

Now you mention it I can imagine him going into a Michelin-starred restaurant, briefly skimming the starters before giving up and thinking "I could do better than this", moving to Hollywood to open his own edgy comedy-themed vanity project of a restaurant, then almost going bust and ending up on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.

Actually, I'd pay good money to watch a sitcom with that plot...

[jobotic]

I'll have the steak please.

Certainly Sir but I should tell you that it's actually ham - it's from a pig that self-identified as a cow. [smug smirk to camera] Anyway, you've had enough already fatty.

[Blue Jam]

It'd be a vegetarian restaurant, obviously, because Ricky cares about animals so much. Anyway, I'd have the veal cutlet that identifies as a cauliflower steak. And I'd deadname it.

For dessert I'd order the cheese board and then ask Ricky "Why aren't you vegan Ricky?" and then tell him Hitler was a vegetarian because I reckon he'd love an edgy and original bit of banter like that.

[jobotic]

Forgot he loved animals. His fault, he never mentions it.

[petril]

tried watching, but about ten minutes into the first episode I started thinking up better plots and characters. Ricky would be proud of me, even if he says and thinks the opposite

*types SATIRE in all caps*

[SurfyGreen]

I joined this website and jumped straight to this thread to provide myself with some sane validation for how much I despised the first few episodes. Didn't carry on past ep 4 but it's somehow got under my skin. I think it was the addict quasi-murder that was really bugging me... While hungrily reading this thread and getting some much needed relief, I overhear one of my colleagues telling the boss how good it is, he then brings up the trailer and both of them start chuckling like crazy at the "ginger cunt" kid-bit

I sound like a snob, but I struggle to understand how people find his style original. It's weakly thought out and has that unbearable desire to be profoundly moving. What the fuck was the point in him having that swim in the sea?

[Ferris]

I joined this website and jumped straight to this thread to provide myself with some sane validation for how much I despised the first few episodes. Didn't carry on past ep 4 but it's somehow got under my skin. I think it was the addict quasi-murder that was really bugging me... While hungrily reading this thread and getting some much needed relief, I overhear one of my colleagues telling the boss how good it is, he then brings up the trailer and both of them start chuckling like crazy at the "ginger cunt" kid-bit

I sound like a snob, but I struggle to understand how people find his style original. It's weakly thought out and has that unbearable desire to be profoundly moving. What the fuck was the point in him having that swim in the sea?

Yeah you'll fit in here alright.

[phes]

I overhear one of my colleagues telling the boss how good it is, he then brings up the trailer and both of them start chuckling like crazy at the "ginger cunt" kid-bit

...It's weakly thought out and has that unbearable desire to be profoundly moving.

This is what keeps these threads rolling despite Gervais being totally irrelevant now as a comic force. Most people here once loved stuff with Gervais in and no doubt would like to have more to love. But the reality is that he's producing stuff that - given his interpretation of the work - is so comically discordant that it keeps us coming back for more. Fans are entranced by Gervais and apparently completely unwilling to entertain the contradictions

The last time I ran into this in conversation with a fan was during Derek. They were having none of my thoughts about it and when I challenged them to watch an episode and mark off each individual action into columns 'act of kindness' or 'act of abuse' they refused. That's what your dealing with. People want to be told what they're seeing. Contrapoints brings this up in the short interview posted recently to this thread. People don't care about facts, they care about the message (and they are facts. Derek could essentially be used as an instructional video for health professionals to identify every single type of abuse it's possible to perpetrate against people in your care).

Haha Kev fucked a fat bird
Haha fat ginger cunt

You can't keep laughing at that stuff unless you're either a straight up cunt, you believe it's a dark cautionary tale or there's some kind of redemption and message about kindness. So Gervais fans now largely appear to be straight up cunts, or to tolerate that comedy they need to unquestioningly believe the message about kindness that he repeatedly pounds into them via his propaganda channel

[samadriel]

edit glitch

[c]

FYI it's a masterpiece:

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/ricky-gervais-after-life-is-a-masterpiece

[PlanktonSideburns]

Bloke in work watches this every lunchtime and has to dash off at least once an episode to cry. This is not made up. He also has a pocket full of crisps

[poo]

Binged it last night. Absolute shite.

[Cuellar]

Bloke in work watches this every lunchtime and has to dash off at least once an episode to cry. This is not made up. He also has a pocket full of crisps

Same, but for different reasons (the crying, not the crisps).

[Mobius]

Honestly it's just inconceivable how many people are praising this as the best thing ever. How can people seriously think this or Derek are good. They are so weird, they don't feel like proper telly shows. I'm fucking baffled.

[Virgo76]

Gosh. I'd almost forgotten how much everyone hates Ricky Gervais on here.
Almost.