Revisiting Ricky Gervais' XFM shows

[Jockice]

And I'll repeat once again that - unlike most forms of humour, even those I hate - I can't even see why Karl Pilkington's supposed to be funny. The entire appeal of him, like Philomena Cunk (admittedly a fictional character, but I think Pilkington's playing a part too) just totally mystifies me.

New page mong number.

[willbo]

And I'll repeat once again that - unlike most forms of humour, even those I hate - I can't even see why Karl Pilkington's supposed to be funny. The entire appeal of him, like Philomena Cunk (admittedly a fictional character, but I think Pilkington's playing a part too) just totally mystifies me.

Karl can be a sweet, almost spiritual person at his best and away from Ricky and Steve - he tried to rescue a market turtle in Japan (offscreen but he talked about later), there was a really nice moment where he took his team to watch some "mumurations" (giant swooping flocks) of birds in the South of England after being challenged to come up with something he considered "art". And if you watch his solo Sky tv travel show he can be surprisingly warm and polite to some of the quirky people he talks to.

I think the whole "is he faking how stupid he is" thing forgets that he has a number of different personas, before his "dumb bigoted guy who shocks the other two" persona was formed he was often just a dry funny observer, and there's the funny quizzes etc he comes up with. And a lot of his solo/Sky travel show stuff is just "down to earth northern guy doing Louis Theroux".

he definitely had a nasty side though, at least in the xfm/podcast he was pretty eager to make fun of a disadvantaged person if it got a laugh (like a lot of his targets were quirky homeless people he's seen out and about).

It was the whole genre then though wasn't it. Moyles, James Whale, Russel Brand, whichever "no nonsense edgy humour" hosts virgin/absolute/lbc had on. You put someone on a microphone for hours and they have to entertain with edgy attention grabbing antics. They're gonna resort to their worst after a while. I mean that Victoria Wright stuff - I heard the clip and, aside from the rudeness, it was the show at it's worst - they're tired, bored, digging for something to talk about. That's when it got unbearable for me when Gervais started getting desperate to wring humour out of Karl and aggressively forcing it instead of just relaxing and letting it happen.

[Mr Banlon]

i seem to remember Gervais trying to explain some Kierkegaard concept. embarrassing stuff

He's brought up Kierkegaard a few times over the years. Probably looked him up because he heard Kierkegaard being mentioned in Monty Python.

[willbo]

He's brought up Kierkegaard a few times over the years. Probably looked him up because he heard Kierkegaard being mentioned in Monty Python.

Gervais has a degree in philosophy apparently

[Mr Banlon]

Cuntesian

[frajer]

Never forget the Rickster's pride on only ever finishing one book, Catcher in the Rye, because his mind would keep suggesting alternatives to whatever the author had written. Too creative to enjoy a book must be quite a curse, it's funny how many other (lesser) people manage to pull it off.

As mentioned upthread, he is undeniably a fascinating shit.

[An tSaoi]

Gervais also had a go at meditation because his brain is so active and full of thoughts that it's impossible to think about nothing.

He's made three critical errors:
· His brain really isn't busier than a regular person
· Not all forms of meditation require the lack of thinking (though some do)
· It is actually possible to think about nothing

Maybe he tried a meditation technique for five minutes and sacked it off, then declared that it's impossible and pointless.

[ASFTSN]

Never forget the Rickster's pride on only ever finishing one book, Catcher in the Rye, because his mind would keep suggesting alternatives to whatever the author had written. Too creative to enjoy a book must be quite a curse, it's funny how many other (lesser) people manage to pull it off.

As mentioned upthread, he is undeniably a fascinating shit.

Ah I didn't realise, so he's one of these "I don't see the point of fiction" people?

[willbo]

I've always wondered about Gervais attitude to women. He seems to aggressively mock men  (Karl, Robin Ince etc) while being more respectful to women. And he never seems that close to his partner - when I've seen them together on tv they seem more like business partners or old friends.

[mr. logic]

Ah I didn't realise, so he's one of these "I don't see the point of fiction" people?

The thing is. Reading is just an activity, lots of people enjoy it. Why do people who do not enjoy it have to cobble together ridiculous excuses? It's not an inherently virtuous thing- just read books or don't.

[frajer]

Ah I didn't realise, so he's one of these "I don't see the point of fiction" people?

From what I recall it was more of a humblebrag that his brain wouldn't ever stop being creative and suggesting alternative story ideas, so he "couldn't enjoy" reading other people's fiction. Strange that this doesn't apply to all the telly he watches.

[idunnosomename]

The catcher in the rye quote is easy enough to find but this is the one that makes him look a true narcissist

The one time I'm properly taken aback by a response, for instance, comes when we're talking books. What does he like to read? (I can only assume that he does.) 'I don't read books. I'm sorry. I can't. I can't read books, other people's books. After the first sentence, the first paragraph, I'm off on my own scenario. It's no longer their book. I'm not reading it any more, I've put it down before turning the first page, I'm writing my own chapters, fitting in my own characters, trying to make it take off my way. So this would happen, then that would happen, of course that character would ... no, it's hopeless, so now I just don't.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/apr/20/baftas2008.rickygervias

[willbo]

Sounds just like a long way of saying he has a low attention span I suppose.

[ersatz99]

I wonder if any of these imagined chapters and characters he's writing in his head involve someone with dwarfism caught in a series of unfortunate events.

[bgmnts]

Why doesnt that apply to him for music, film or television then? Is it because there is slightly less work on the part of the viewer/listener?

[Utter Shit]

Probably because he makes music, film and television.

[jobotic]

Look I've read Dostoevsky, Hardy, Christie, Spark, MArquez, and The Tiger Who Came to Tea.

All of them are about funny dwarves getting wrapped in masking tape, kindness and my Baftas. All books are the same so what's the point!

[Thomas]

I can only read about two or three Flanimals before coming up with half-arsed descriptions myself. I'm gonna have to go meditate!

[franticplanet]

'I don't read books. I'm sorry. I can't. I can't read books, other people's books. After the first sentence, the first paragraph, I'm off on my own scenario. It's no longer their book. I'm not reading it any more, I'm writing my own chapters, fitting in my own characters, imagining how they'd start behaving really awkwardly if they met a black person.'

[idunnosomename]

It was the best of times, it was a dwarf with his head in a toilet lol

[dead-ced-dead]

It was the best of times, it was a dwarf with his head in a toilet lol

That "lol" doesn't do justice to Gervais' ear-scraping obnoxious laugh.

[bgmnts]

s*****c in the Rye

[frajer]

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Rocky Gervass had just finished another morning of being the kindest human being ever birthed. He looked up at the cloudless sky, winked and said "I know You don't exist."

[non capisco]

Call me Ishmael, you little ginger cunt. *sad piano*

[Video Game Fan 2000]

Hanna-barbara should do another cartoon series of Gervais being an ignorant prick through history.

René Descartes: Suppose, if some unseen demon had conspired to use all his power and cunning to deceive me...
Ricky Gervais: Hahaha! A demon? I'm sorry. An actual demon. Wouldn't happen mate. I came here for science and you're talking about [slow voice] de-mons.

Are you talking about An Idiot Abroad? I'm trying to remember the scenes you're talking about

When they're taking him from hotel room to hotel room seemingly for no reason other than to get him angry at how dirty things are.
Then they take him to the place where the gurus are meditating to chortle at deformities and stuff about traditional uses for cow dung. He's clearly wound up, its painful to watch.

The whole thing seemed contrived so he'd kick off about stuff then rant to Steve or Ricky on the phone about how dirty things are or how stuff stinks. I don't know how "real" Karl was by that point but the whole episode seemed like someone being provoked into racist outbursts. "Don't worry we'll take you to see the Taj Mahal" then they take him to place where cow dung is used for traditional medicine, film his annoyance and disgust, insult him on the phone, repeat x10 and thats a show.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

A great screaming comes across the sky. "Haaaaaaaaa! A little gay fella and he's got no legs!" it says "play a record, hahahaaaiiiieeeee"  It has happened before and it will happen again.

[notjosh]

The whole thing seemed contrived so he'd kick off about stuff then rant to Steve or Ricky on the phone about how dirty things are or how stuff stinks. I don't know how "real" Karl was by that point but the whole episode seemed like someone being provoked into racist outbursts. "Don't worry we'll take you to see the Taj Mahal" then they take him to place where cow dung is used for traditional medicine, film his annoyance and disgust, insult him on the phone, repeat x10 and thats a show.

I loved the fact that it was an antidote to every other travel show, which is always banging on about how "spiritual" places like India are - as if they exist only to nourish the souls of Western visitors. But the truth is that most travel isn't a transcendental experience - a lot of it is messy and tiring and uncomfortable and underwhelming. It's refreshing to see someone pointing out that there are dirty nappies flying around the pyramids instead of working out how to frame the shot so you only see the impressive bits. And some of the people he meets (like the fellas by the Ganges holding their hands up for 50 years to show their devotion to some god they've never met) really are off their rockers. At least Karl had an honest reaction to them rather than patronising them.

Obviously there are lots of more accessible and relaxing parts of these countries that he could have visited, and his constant moaning can get a bit nasty. But at least it breaks the patronising taboo of TV that won't admit that some places are a bit shit. I haven't been to many of the places he's visited except India and Thailand, but among the wonderful experiences I had in those countries there were plenty that could have made it on to this show.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

I loved the fact that it was an antidote to every other travel show, which is always banging on about how "spiritual" places like India are - as if they exist only to nourish the souls of Western visitors. But the truth is that most travel isn't a transcendental experience - a lot of it is messy and tiring and uncomfortable and underwhelming.

This would be true and might have worked if they weren't yelling at Karl to specifically be more spiritual then contriving the situations so he'd expect something enlightening and then see nappies floating down the Ganges and catching his reaction.

I get what you're saying, that kind of western-centred exoticism is ripe for being totally punctured - especially now because its coming back in the guise of "anti-racism" of all things, where you can go to a foreign place and meditate away your white baggage like linear time and objectivity in exchange for a small large fee -  but if that's what they were going for they did a stinking job of it. The fact that it was English men in India in particular needed at least some sensitivity and they don't show any at all. I'd watched and enjoyed a few episodes of An Idiot Abroad, I loved Karl and it still made me tap out.

[notjosh]

This would be true and might have worked if they weren't yelling at Karl to specifically be more spiritual then contriving the situations so he'd expect something enlightening and then see nappies floating down the Ganges and catching his reaction.

I get what you're saying, that kind of western-centred exoticism is ripe for being totally punctured - especially now because its coming back in the guise of "anti-racism" of all things, where you can go to a foreign place and meditate away your white baggage like linear time and objectivity in exchange for a small large fee -  but if that's what they were going for they did a stinking job of it. The fact that it was English men in India in particular needed at least some sensitivity and they don't show any at all. I'd watched and enjoyed a few episodes of An Idiot Abroad, I loved Karl and it still made me tap out.

I don't think it's what they were going for at all, it's just an aspect of the show that emerged organically from Karl's character while Ricky was pissing himself at the idea of Karl drinking camel spunk or whatever.

[beanheadmcginty]

Maybe being from Reading puts people off reading.