Ricky Gervais - After Life [split topic]

[idunnosomename]

I agree, give Shipman a second series I say

[MiddleRabbit]

At least Shipman ended suffering. Gervais is showing no signs of slowing down yet.

Laughed.

[Thursday]

Does anyone have that clip of Shipman on Jonathan Ross? It keeps getting take down from youtube.

[Satchmo Distel]

Tony's boss told him that it would be extremely sick if he knew the junkie was going to kill himself, but this dropped down the memory hole in the next episode. Yet Tony's boss is supposedly a journalist, whom you'd expect to know when not to overlook evidence of homicide being handed to him.

A real headteacher would surely have gone to the police about Tony threatening the kid, but Gervais thinks it's plausible the head would just contact the parent of another kid in the school.

Gervais thinks it's plausible that Tony's wife would find it hilarious when he chucks cold water over her, etc.

Gervais thinks an Asian female would fawn over a white middle-aged misanthropist because she hates it when cruel white blokes "look so sad."

Gervais thinks it's plausible that Tony's work colleagues would forgive and forget.

Gervais is a shit writer because, like Tony, he has no empathy and thinks that all cruelty can be reduced to just bantz, and women will forgive any bloke for being a cunt if he's "funny".

He's like Jeremy Beadle falsely telling someone their gran has cancer then saying, "Oh, sorry, it's just bantz!" and the recipient guffawing in response because Beadle is such a nice, funny bloke.

[idunnosomename]

crying laughing emoji

https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1172897510437851137

to me ricky, you're still the unfunny bit before the ads on the 11 o'clock show that everyone is sitting through to get to Ali G

[H-O-W-L]

if only gervais was in the after life am i right? braaaaaaaugh

[paruses]

Thought someone would have posted this travesty already, yeah?

https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2019/11/20/44815/ricky_gervais_to_receive_a_rose_dor

Hope Derry Girls gets the award in the other category (or any of the others I haven't really seen) but probably won't.

What is wrong with the universe?

[Jumblegraws]

Thought someone would have posted this travesty already, yeah?

https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2019/11/20/44815/ricky_gervais_to_receive_a_rose_dor

Hope Derry Girls gets the award in the other category (or any of the others I haven't really seen) but probably won't.

What is wrong with the universe?

Lenny Henry hosting the ceremony, that could be interesting (but probably wont be).

[paruses]

I see they gave James Corden a lifetime achievement award so they have form for wrong-headedness.

[dissolute ocelot]

I see they gave James Corden a lifetime achievement award so they have form for wrong-headedness.

Although it's positive news if you wish Corden to die shortly.

[BritishHobo]

The response to After Life is even more baffling than Derek. I'm on loads of bad evil SJW Facebook groups where we all get offended about things and try and ban them, and even in there you always get people fairly unanimously going 'I don't really like Ricky Gervais but After Life is one of the greatest shows ever'.

[mojo filters]

The response to After Life is even more baffling than Derek. I'm on loads of bad evil SJW Facebook groups where we all get offended about things and try and ban them, and even in there you always get people fairly unanimously going 'I don't really like Ricky Gervais but After Life is one of the greatest shows ever'.

I think that's a good point. I'm no Derek fan, but you could at least see what Gervais was trying to do with the limited C4 resources afforded to him.

After Life felt substantively different. The production values indicated an extremely generous budget, that could have been more evenly split between development and filming etc.

My understanding is that however flawed and irritating, Derek was a character Gervais had been workshopping since before he was a public figure. Whether that's correct or not, the less than stellar show at least seemed to contain some degree of internal logic.

By contrast After Life looked like a beautifully expensive location shot, of a severely underdeveloped idea.

[Ferris]

I see they gave James Corden a lifetime achievement award so they have form for wrong-headedness.

desolation

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

My understanding is that however flawed and irritating, Derek was a character Gervais had been workshopping since before he was a public figure. Whether that's correct or not, the less than stellar show at least seemed to contain some degree of internal logic.

I would argue, as I'm sure would many others, that Derek's complete and utter lack of internal logic was what made it so compelling. It was deranged, it didn't make any sense at all.

I would also argue that Gervais never did any work on developing Derek as a character, apart, that is, from cynically reinventing him as a wise, kind, holy fool as opposed to the outright figure of fun he was initially portrayed as on stage. Gervais has every right to do whatever he wants with a character he's invented, but Derek never convinced as a fully rounded character in either iteration. It was always just Gervais pulling a face.

[Jim Bob]

I would argue, as I'm sure would many others, that Derek's complete and utter lack of internal logic was what made it so compelling. It was deranged, it didn't make any sense at all.

I would also argue that Gervais never did any work on developing Derek as a character, apart, that is, from cynically reinventing him as a wise, kind, holy fool as opposed to the outright figure of fun he was initially portrayed as on stage. Gervais has every right to do whatever he wants with a character he's invented, but Derek never convinced as a fully rounded character in either iteration. It was always just Gervais pulling a face.

Correct on every front.

[mojo filters]

Perhaps I was a bit fast, loose and careless with my terminology (I've had virtually no sleep for the last 48 hrs, due to what Harold MacMillan aptly referred to in my line of work as events.) I was giving sitcoms much broader latitude, compared with that afforded to most other TV genres.

There was a notable lack of realism inherent in the premise of Derek. However I thought there were both certain compelling characters and story arcs, though they were easily distracted by stuff like Gervais' one-note performance dominating.

I agree that Derek was not fully rounded as a character, but as a lessor player in the same scenario, where Hannah and Kev led an ensemble cast - he had potential to add value.

Whilst the production values of After Life were clearly high, the same standard could not be attributed to either the wider storyline nor the lazy writing.

It was as if Gervais came up with a potentially interesting premise, then directly proceeded to film the very first draft of his script - with the latter having not undergone any edits, external scrutiny, or revisions from producers regarding refining plotting, and so forth.

Kerry Godliman's character in Derek contrasted nicely with most others, beautifully played and easily eliciting sympathy from the viewer. By contrast, aside from the nephew and perhaps the fat/bully kid, there were no characters in After Life who I felt any genuine sympathy for.

Obviously the latter does not automatically stop a sitcom from being either funny and/or well written (eg Seinfeld's no hugging, no learning mantra) however everyone in After Life was absurdly underdeveloped, whilst the sudden change of heart/attitude by Gervais at the end was annoyingly clumsy and jarring.

There were glimpses of interesting nuance in After Life. The junkie character could have been a flawed hero, if he'd been better fleshed out.

The brief dialogue exchange about the confusion around moving garages, took me back to some of Gervais' more memorable earlier work.

Similarly the ambiguous morality of the Gervais character happily giving him the money to fulfil his ambition, was the smartest insight we got into any complexity of the lead character - so much more interesting than the awkward exposition scenes involving his deceased wife.

Unfortunately Gervais squandered any opportunity to exploit that plot point, via quickly disposing of it via that short and inelegant scene, in his boss/brother-in-law's office.

[Mark Steels Stockbroker]

The response to After Life is even more baffling than Derek. I'm on loads of bad evil SJW Facebook groups where we all get offended about things and try and ban them, and even in there you always get people fairly unanimously going 'I don't really like Ricky Gervais but After Life is one of the greatest shows ever'.

Yeah but that just proves SJWs are fuckwits AMIRITE.

[BritishHobo]

Getting you banned mate

[SteK]

I'm probs going against the flow but I like Gervais' written comedy - not his stand up tho. It's on the darker side and is a bit up his arse but it is funny, unlike that The Cockfields shite. And the Citizen Khan shite. And that Mrs Brown's Boys shite.

However I find Stephen Merchant's stuff funnier, and his acting is funnier. Loved Hello Ladies!

[Mobius]

The Office was great. Extras was good. Everything else is total shit. Derek/After Life are embarrassing. Like a Darkplace pisstake of what drama/pathos are.

[Jim Bob]

I'd just care to take this opportunity to state that After Life is the most objectively sublime work of art made since Derek.

[Jim Bob]

(I've only ever seen two programmes)

[Chriddof]

The response to After Life is even more baffling than Derek. I'm on loads of bad evil SJW Facebook groups where we all get offended about things and try and ban them, and even in there you always get people fairly unanimously going 'I don't really like Ricky Gervais but After Life is one of the greatest shows ever'.

The continued reaction to both this and Derek reminds me of this book:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1087661.You_Remember_Me_

(Both that and the book before it are brilliant, btw.)

[paruses]

I agree with what MojoFilters says about After Life but would probably be a bit harder on it and my opinion of it has been covered already across the thread.

But this particular award (the headline one in the article) is for an outstanding performance. Does anyone have anything to say about that? My memory of this is that it was much like any stand up who gives acting a go and does an OK job (with poor material - I just want to get that in again). His brother-in-law or Tony Way*  did an equally good job. Penelope ** equalled his performance as a "sad lady".

I don't remember any nuance in the character. It was looking sad, distracted, and detached. There was no stages of grief acting in there (as obvious as that would have been). Maybe the award is for him keeping a lid on the chimpanzee laugh and self-satisfied glee. No, it can't be that because those practical jokes when he was a great-guy had that shit in.

They haven't awarded this particular category for a number of years (sorry on phone so I can't jump about to check). If they're reviving it just to single out this performance then the world truly has gone mad.



*my fucking ability with names - it is Way isn't it?
** that's gone too

[paruses]

The continued reaction to both this and Derek reminds me of this book:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1087661.You_Remember_Me_

(Both that and the book before it are brilliant, btw.)

Just looked at those. I fancy giving them a go. Should I read in order?

[Jim Bob]

I liked it when he killed the smack head.  It was very touching that he never suffered any consequences.

[Blue Jam]

...this particular award (the headline one in the article) is for an outstanding performance. Does anyone have anything to say about that? My memory of this is that it was much like any stand up who gives acting a go and does an OK job (with poor material - I just want to get that in again). His brother-in-law or Tony Way*  did an equally good job. Penelope ** equalled his performance as a "sad lady".

I don't remember any nuance in the character. It was looking sad, distracted, and detached. There was no stages of grief acting in there (as obvious as that would have been). Maybe the award is for him keeping a lid on the chimpanzee laugh and self-satisfied glee. No, it can't be that because those practical jokes when he was a great-guy had that shit in.

They haven't awarded this particular category for a number of years (sorry on phone so I can't jump about to check). If they're reviving it just to single out this performance then the world truly has gone mad.

I'd like to nominate the Robot Grief Dog for a Tin Rose of Montreaux.

[Ferris]

I'd like to nominate the Robot Grief Dog for a Tin of Roses of Montreaux.

[Glebe]

I wonder who he's going to virtually murder in series 2?

[Jim Bob]

I wonder who he's going to virtually murder in series 2?

The concept of a quality script?