Ricky Gervais's After Life series 2

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Has he ever mentioned Martin Freeman's post-Office success?

Martin Freeman kinda plays the same character in everything, doesn't he.

[lankyguy95]

Ordinarily I would say others are entitled to their opinion, but Jesus...

I'd say he's more entitled to an opinion than anyone.

[phes]

Martin Freeman kinda plays the same character in everything, doesn't he.

Bit charitable to claim he plays the same character. He certainly pulls the same face.

[Indomitable Spirit]

I mean to hear people describe things like After life and Derek as genius, I start to wonder if (aside from his twitter zombies) large companies these days, are not (like our governments) employing troll/shill farms to make it appear as if such shows are wildly popular.

There was certainly astroturfing done for Derek. I remember there was a website and Twitter account called 'Tadpole Hitler' that was touted as an authentic fansite, but it amount of access it had to production (daily exclusive interviews and big prize giveaways) kind of gave the game away that it was a professionally run operation.

In fact, here's the maiden post that was definitely, definitely not written by Gervais himself

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

[Noodle Lizard]

There was certainly astroturfing done for Derek. I remember there was a website and Twitter account called 'Tadpole Hitler' that was touted as an authentic fansite, but it amount of access it had to production (daily exclusive interviews and big prize giveaways) kind of gave the game away that it was a professionally run operation.

In fact, here's the maiden post that was definitely, definitely not written by Gervais himself

Yeah, I remember at the time people being sort of jokingly suspicious of it ("I bet it's actually Gervais himself!"), but the more it went on the more apparent it became that it was almost definitely a sanctioned bit of promo/fluffing. With shit that blatant, it's a wonder he's not as widely-ridiculed as Jussie Smollett.

[Ignatius_S]

Martin Freeman kinda plays the same character in everything, doesn't he.

No, I wouldn't say so - for example, his performance in Nightwatching is simply outstanding.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

No, I wouldn't say so - for example, his performance in Nightwatching is simply outstanding.

I haven't seen that film, but I agree that he's a good actor. To accuse him of just being Tim from The Office in everything isn't very accurate or fair.

[honeychile]

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.

The tone of that immediately put me in mind of:

Imagine a cross between Telly Addicts and Noel's House Party. You've just imagined Upstairs Downstairs, a new quiz show devised and hosted by David Brent.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

That's such a funny line. Remember when Gervais was funny? Different times.

[Thomas]

Thanks to this thread, it's after midnight and I'm fascinated all over again by tadpolehitler.com and its mysterious origins. I'd love for a technosleuth to trace its genesis.


EDIT: Someone professing to be its creator posted over at Pilkipedia back in 2013. Enough. I'll just email anonymous@gmail.com and then get to bed.

[Jim Bob]

There was certainly astroturfing done for Derek. I remember there was a website and Twitter account called 'Tadpole Hitler' that was touted as an authentic fansite, but it amount of access it had to production (daily exclusive interviews and big prize giveaways) kind of gave the game away that it was a professionally run operation.

In fact, here's the maiden post that was definitely, definitely not written by Gervais himself

I remember during that time, Gervais did an interview during the publicity rounds for Derek and referred to how passionate the response to the show had been and said (paraphrasing here but this is pretty darn close) "there's one fella who even runs a website dedicated to Derek! I think he calls himself... Dictator Frog Spawn, or something crazy like that".

It's just pathetic.  Sure, Gervais; not only couldn't you remember the online handle of the "fan" but apparently you couldn't even remember the very dialogue which you yourself wrote and that this supposed "fan" derived his online name from.

[drummersaredeaf]

Fuck me, I thought 'kindness is magic' was a pisstake created on here, not an actual social media campaign he ran to promote that tripe!

[chveik]

Martin Freeman kinda plays the same character in everything, doesn't he.

he was good as Ollie in The Thick of It

[Rob1969in]

Martin Freeman kinda plays the same character in everything, doesn't he.

He was outstanding in Fargo series one (imo)

[Bronzy]

There was certainly astroturfing done for Derek. I remember there was a website and Twitter account called 'Tadpole Hitler' that was touted as an authentic fansite, but it amount of access it had to production (daily exclusive interviews and big prize giveaways) kind of gave the game away that it was a professionally run operation.

In fact, here's the maiden post that was definitely, definitely not written by Gervais himself

Thanks to this thread, it's after midnight and I'm fascinated all over again by tadpolehitler.com and its mysterious origins. I'd love for a technosleuth to trace its genesis.


EDIT: Someone professing to be its creator posted over at Pilkipedia back in 2013. Enough. I'll just email anonymous@gmail.com and then get to bed.

I remember during that time, Gervais did an interview during the publicity rounds for Derek and referred to how passionate the response to the show had been and said (paraphrasing here but this is pretty darn close) "there's one fella who even runs a website dedicated to Derek! I think he calls himself... Dictator Frog Spawn, or something crazy like that".

It's just pathetic.  Sure, Gervais; not only couldn't you remember the online handle of the "fan" but apparently you couldn't even remember the very dialogue which you yourself wrote and that this supposed "fan" derived his online name from.

I was actually a regular user/lurker of Pilkipedia when that whole Tadpole Hitler situation came to light, much merriment was had at the PR guy hired to pretend to be a random bloke who just happened to create a fan site that managed to immediately gain exclusive access to a major Channel 4 production.

Unfortunately "kindness is magic" was a very real phrase that Gervais used on a regular basis at the time, usually to encourage his hordes to vote for Derek when it was competing for some shitty obscure award that literally nobody else cared about.

One of those times which is very difficult to describe and all you can say is "you had to be there".

[Bronzy]

I still remember this fantastic takedown of Gervais on Pilkipedia by RandyChimp, who at the time (mid-2013) was tagged by Gervais in a tweet that had this in quotations:

"What do you think about @RandyChimp slagging you off on his forum?"

With Ricky adding his bit saying "I don't care" or whatever to make it look like someone had asked him that despite the fact nobody did, he clearly had been reading the Pilkipedia forum and took offence to some of RandyChimp's posts and so decided to set his hordes on the guy before bravely deleting his tweet 20 minutes later so it couldn't be traced back to him, obviously knowing that the damage had already been done. I think RandyChimp knew and was in communication with Barry Admin at the time, can't say for sure though.

Anyway, here's RandyChimp's post that he wrote on Pilkipedia soon after:



It's amazing how this was written six years ago and yet almost all of it still applies to Ricky today.

Lovely stuff.

[Wolf8312]

There was certainly astroturfing done for Derek. I remember there was a website and Twitter account called 'Tadpole Hitler' that was touted as an authentic fansite, but it amount of access it had to production (daily exclusive interviews and big prize giveaways) kind of gave the game away that it was a professionally run operation.

In fact, here's the maiden post that was definitely, definitely not written by Gervais himself

Total Pageviews
706,838

Gah, And I just gave them their 706,838th! A website boasting about how popular it is. Yup that's got Gervais' fingerprints all over it!

I still remember this fantastic takedown of Gervais on Pilkipedia by RandyChimp, who at the time (mid-2013) was tagged by Gervais in a tweet that had this in quotations:

"What do you think about @RandyChimp slagging you off on his forum?"

With Ricky adding his bit saying "I don't care" or whatever to make it look like someone had asked him that despite the fact nobody did, he clearly had been reading the Pilkipedia forum and took offence to some of RandyChimp's posts and so decided to set his hordes on the guy before bravely deleting his tweet 20 minutes later so it couldn't be traced back to him, obviously knowing that the damage had already been done. I recall RandyChimp knew and was in communication with Barry Admin at the time, can't say for sure though.

Anyway, here's RandyChimp's post that he wrote on Pilkipedia soon after:



It's amazing how this was written six years ago and yet almost all of it still applies to Ricky today.

Lovely stuff.

It's a very worrying tactic employed by the media in general now. Want to say something? Have someone on Twitter say it (probably someone in your own office or PR firm) and then use it as a source. Means they can basically write anything they want or go at a story from any angle. Journalistic standards have plummeted to an all-time low, whereas disinformation and manipulation of the media by those with money/resources are at an all-time high. Even papers like the Guardian have slowly over time devolved to the level of basically 'people on twitter are saying' based journalism.

[Jockice]

I still remember this fantastic takedown of Gervais on Pilkipedia by RandyChimp, who at the time (mid-2013) was tagged by Gervais in a tweet that had this in quotations:

"What do you think about @RandyChimp slagging you off on his forum?"

With Ricky adding his bit saying "I don't care" or whatever to make it look like someone had asked him that despite the fact nobody did, he clearly had been reading the Pilkipedia forum and took offence to some of RandyChimp's posts and so decided to set his hordes on the guy before bravely deleting his tweet 20 minutes later so it couldn't be traced back to him, obviously knowing that the damage had already been done. I think RandyChimp knew and was in communication with Barry Admin at the time, can't say for sure though.

Anyway, here's RandyChimp's post that he wrote on Pilkipedia soon after:



It's amazing how this was written six years ago and yet almost all of it still applies to Ricky today.

Lovely stuff.

Is the 'nice simple man who he met at a radio station' Karl Pilkington? Who I believe was a producer at that station.  I've met quite a few radio producers during my time and while some of them may be nice, none were simple.

The whole thing really is a massive conjob. Find someone who isn't funny at all - I'll say again, as I always do, that I can't even see why he's MEANT to be funny - tout him as not only a comedy genius but an accidental comedy genius, who is so thick that he doesn't even mean to be funny. he does it naturally. And people fall for it. Weird.

In defence of Pilkington, he was the best thing in Derek. And yes, I know, it's a low bar.


(PS, slagging off Gervais for 'mocking people with learning disabilities' and then referring to other people as 'retards.' Hmm)

[Jockice]

Martin Freeman kinda plays the same character in everything, doesn't he.

Don't you mean his brother Morgan?

[checkoutgirl]

Is the 'nice simple man who he met at a radio station' Karl Pilkington? Who I believe was a producer at that station.  I've met quite a few radio producers during my time and while some of them may be nice, none were simple.

Also Karl isn't nice. If you dredged XFM archives for every time Karl was nasty to Steve or little midget fellas or little gay fellas or cheeky freaks or whoever, you'd have at least 3 hours of material. The amount of times he's said "I'm not being mean but..." followed by something mean.

He could certainly dish it out.

[Jockice]

Also Karl isn't nice. If you dredged XFM archives for every time Karl was nasty to Steve or little midget fellas or little gay fellas or cheeky freaks or whoever, you'd have at least 3 hours of material. The amount of times he's said "I'm not being mean but..." followed by something mean.

He could certainly dish it out.

Indeed. I was looking at something about that disabled woman they insulted on the show a couple of days ago and Gervais fans were actually having a go at her for being upset and complaining, seemingly on the grounds that Karl really didn't know what he was saying, although of course what he was saying is the truth. So she should have just taken it. And no, I'm not going to add the obvious punchline here. Because I'm not a twat.

[checkoutgirl]

I remember a bit they did about unlikely lust objects and some woman in a magazine saying Steve was her crush. The chat went something like...

Steve - Should I get her phone number?

Karl - I wouldn't waste my time.

Cue a complaint text or email about 5 minutes later from the woman. Earlier he referred to some swingers thus "and they were all pretty ugly"... He knew exactly what he was doing. Similar to Ricky you could almost say slagging people off was his act.

Having said that it is comedy and I'm loathe to sensor people. It's just with Karl and Ricky it's very often with individuals who are just ordinary citizens who haven't the platform to fight back. Or in the case of James Corden it's disturbing because the revenge dish is over a decade old and absolutely freezing.

[sevendaughters]

I remember Pilkington on that weird Sky+ show where people would watch telly in a studio and make jokes, he said a couple of lightly homophobic things, or repeated homophobic jokes made at his radio job.

I personally think his work and public persona exhibits this magical thing called growth, though.

[Schnapple]

Karl's a good egg, I reckon. There's no need to be hauling people over the coals over a couple of instances on the radio nearly twenty years ago.

[Old Gold Tooth]

I personally think his work and public persona exhibits this magical thing called growth, though.

The only magical thing you'll ever need in life (pause; STARE into middle-distance while PIANO) is kindness.

[Jockice]

Having said that it is comedy and I'm loathe to sensor people. It's just with Karl and Ricky it's very often with individuals who are just ordinary citizens who haven't the platform to fight back. Or in the case of James Corden it's disturbing because the revenge dish is over a decade old and absolutely freezing.

I'm with you on that one. I defriended someone on Facebook over this  sort of thing a few days ago (a real rarity in my case).  He has a friend who is basically a twat who goes round insulting random people. He had a go at me a while ago over a totally innocuous comment on a post so I told him to fuck off. Then he had a go at a female friend of mine again for no apparent reason.  Again she (rightly) told him to fuck off to which he replied in an absolutely vile way, insulting her looks very crudely. Really unpleasant stuff. Just bullying basically. Not nice at any time, but particularly unpleasant when you consider that her husband died a few weeks ago. It wasn't even expected, he just had a heart attack.  The twat may not have known this but the other bloke definitely did. However he defended the twat on the grounds that he is apparently 'funny' and 'has a go at everyone.' And even linked him into the conversation that he hadn't been part of till then. Crossed a line with me that did. Bye Mark. It's been nice knowing you.

Mind you, one of the people who has defriended me (again, someone I had met in real life and liked) did so because I joked about those car insurance adverts with James Corden in. Not about his weight or anything. About the actual adverts. The last comment he left was: "If that's what you think about one of the nicest people in showbusiness, what must you think of the rest of us?" Hmm. Just a shame I never asked him what his opinion of Ricky Gervais is.

[thugler]

I still remember this fantastic takedown of Gervais on Pilkipedia by RandyChimp, who at the time (mid-2013) was tagged by Gervais in a tweet that had this in quotations:

"What do you think about @RandyChimp slagging you off on his forum?"

With Ricky adding his bit saying "I don't care" or whatever to make it look like someone had asked him that despite the fact nobody did, he clearly had been reading the Pilkipedia forum and took offence to some of RandyChimp's posts and so decided to set his hordes on the guy before bravely deleting his tweet 20 minutes later so it couldn't be traced back to him, obviously knowing that the damage had already been done. I think RandyChimp knew and was in communication with Barry Admin at the time, can't say for sure though.

Anyway, here's RandyChimp's post that he wrote on Pilkipedia soon after:



It's amazing how this was written six years ago and yet almost all of it still applies to Ricky today.

Lovely stuff.

Far from a fantastic takedown this contains a lot of utter nonsense (the 'gervais didn't write the office or extras' bollocks, as well as assumptions about his relationships with merchant etc). Also failing to realise that Pilkington was a character rather than a genuine idiot. While I agree with the stuff about Gervais being a thin skinned twitter arsehole, the thing as a whole is a little bit unhinged and personal.



Also, another thing. Regarding the whole tadpole hitler thing. In the end wasn't it pretty much established that it wasn't paid for thing and instead a bit of a naive bit of hero worship writing it off their own back and getting access due to being so unrelentingly positive about it? Certainly wasn't conclusively proven as a bit of publicity as I remember it.

[olliebean]

I haven't seen that film, but I agree that he's a good actor. To accuse him of just being Tim from The Office in everything isn't very accurate or fair.

To be fair, he's on record as saying that after The Office he found it difficult to let go of that particular Gervaisian style of acting. He seems to have managed it since, though.

[Sebastian Cobb]

[Wolf8312]

Karl's a good egg, I reckon. There's no need to be hauling people over the coals over a couple of instances on the radio nearly twenty years ago.

Though I think Gervais is a narcissist and bully (referring to children with Cancer in the manner he once did is genuinely despicable in my opinion especially giving that it was a line he actually wrote and rehearsed) I too don't think Karl is a bad guy really. Nor Stephen merchant who I also like.

Although I think Karl's definitely got a schtick, he has genuinely had me howling with laughter. Last time Gervais even made me laugh like that was the old Microsoft training video I think.

Back then it seemed like he and Merchant had the potential to be a genuine and much beloved double act. Basically I think Stephen wasn't able to rein him in, and he just lost it.