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Ricky Gervais: SuperNature

Started by Blue Jam, July 29, 2018, 02:09:02 PM

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Schnapple

Absolute shit for cunts and not worth the analysis at this stage, but I think what bothers me more than the material is Gervais's pathological insistence that he's operating on some superior level of irony, that he doesn't really mean it, the 'target' of the joke, etc.

Legitimately funny 'edgy' comedians don't feel the need, either because they're confident enough that their audience get it, or better/worse, they simply believe what they say, or at least happy to play with the idea that their audience believe that to be the case. Even Jimmy fucking Carr barely wastes his time laying out this sort of shit.

Rich Uncle Skeleton

Quote from: Cold Meat Platter on May 25, 2022, 01:06:40 AMYou know how some people are the 'comedian's comedian'? He's the comedian for people who don't really usually like comedy.
He's the Call of Duty of stand up.
The FIFA of sitcom.

thank you for finding the words i couldn't

colacentral

Quote from: Jumblegraws on May 25, 2022, 11:16:06 AMFairly indifferent to The Darkness but thought the comparisons were especially apt cos Gervais called them "the best band in Britain" when they were at their peak.

Wallpaper music: the part of the Venn diagram where top 40 listeners and Kerrang viewers meet. If they wore normal clothes instead of pretending to be glam, no one would give a shit.

Pink Gregory

Quote from: Pdine on May 25, 2022, 09:30:31 AMI have to say though that his standup just doesn't really bear the same analysis. It's simple stuff, unpretentious by the standards of his sitcoms, and competent in the sense that if you share his views you'll likely laugh out of recognition. Conversely, as it's not that skilled or complex, if you don't agree with him it just feels wearisome. This also rebounds on criticism of his standup, which ends up just being a litmus test of how the viewer feels about the issues, not the comedy.   

That's the thing about deliberately contentious material unless you put the work in - unless the cruelty is the point (which can work if it's not just used to hateful ends), it's just signalling which side of the culture war the performer is on.

I still maintain that Animals and Politics are good standup shows - regardless of borrowing heavily from other standups - when he was doing silly sketches about overanalysing the fable of the ant and the grasshopper or playing out the idea of elephants being 'caught' swimming. 

But then when Fame rolled around he has his 'here's why it's alright to call a disabled woman this particular slur' and obviously that got him more attention than diminishing returns with his other stuff which is about on the level of any other competent standup on the circuit; then he continued to double down on the contentious material rather than work on anything interesting, and get rather too invested in the idea of reading out his twitter feed off his phone on stage (for fuck's sake), and now here we are.

That's the thing with contentious material.  Whether or not it's hateful, it *is* predictable.  It's not surprising, or inventive, or witty, unless you're willing to take risks and put the work in, which Ricky clearly isn't prepared to do; and why would he?  Netflix are throwing millions of dollars at his warmed over shite regardless.

bgmnts


JaDanketies

Nothing wrong with the Darkness you pretentious cunts

BritishHobo

Quote from: Schnapple on May 25, 2022, 11:19:38 AMAbsolute shit for cunts and not worth the analysis at this stage, but I think what bothers me more than the material is Gervais's pathological insistence that he's operating on some superior level of irony, that he doesn't really mean it, the 'target' of the joke, etc.

Legitimately funny 'edgy' comedians don't feel the need, either because they're confident enough that their audience get it, or better/worse, they simply believe what they say, or at least happy to play with the idea that their audience believe that to be the case. Even Jimmy fucking Carr barely wastes his time laying out this sort of shit.

Also you'd think if he really did feel strongly about being pro-trans etc and only doing irony to mock ignorant attitudes, he'd be horrified that trans people all think his special is horrible and transphobic people are cheering it on. Instead he delights in it.

Dr Rock

Recycled joke #3

Men in changing rooms swan about completely naked for too long.

Recycled joke #4

Having a colonoscopy

checkoutgirl

Quote from: Pink Gregory on May 25, 2022, 11:27:04 AMBut then when Fame rolled around he has his 'here's why it's alright to call a disabled woman this particular slur'

Wait, hang on. Was it Animals or Politics where he wheeled out Ash Atalla and called him "leg mental"? It's weird because on XFM he'd pull up Karl for calling certain people "little wheelchair fellas" and a few years later he's saying "the sex is shit but you've always got a parking space at Tesco".

Jumblegraws

Quote from: checkoutgirl on May 25, 2022, 11:47:05 AMWait, hang on. Was it Animals or Politics where he wheeled out Ash Atalla and called him "leg mental"? It's weird because on XFM he'd pull up Karl for calling certain people "little wheelchair fellas" and a few years later he's saying "the sex is shit but you've always got a parking space at Tesco".

Politics

Jumblegraws

Quote from: Pink Gregory on May 25, 2022, 11:27:04 AMBut then when Fame rolled around he has his 'here's why it's alright to call a disabled woman this particular slur' and obviously that got him more attention than diminishing returns with his other stuff which is about on the level of any other competent standup on the circuit
Pedantic point here but if this is a reference to the Susan Boyle bit, that was in Science, not Fame

Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse

Quote from: BritishHobo on May 25, 2022, 11:34:43 AMAlso you'd think if he really did feel strongly about being pro-trans etc and only doing irony to mock ignorant attitudes, he'd be horrified that trans people all think his special is horrible and transphobic people are cheering it on. Instead he delights in it.
Stewart Lee did it far better in Carpet Remnant World anyway. "Did you know that 1 in 2 kids in Britain today is called Muhammed, and that's just the girls, I haven't got the exact figures, I've done no research"

The Mollusk

The Darkness are fucking great, eat a shit

Cold Meat Platter

Quote from: JaDanketies on May 25, 2022, 11:32:06 AMNothing wrong with the Darkness you pretentious cunts

lol. rofl.

Pink Gregory

Quote from: Jumblegraws on May 25, 2022, 11:50:13 AMPedantic point here but if this is a reference to the Susan Boyle bit, that was in Science, not Fame

Ah you're right, I was thinking of the Ken Dodd fan bit.  Was it Fame when he was going on about chronic fatigue?

Pink Gregory

Quote from: checkoutgirl on May 25, 2022, 11:47:05 AMWait, hang on. Was it Animals or Politics where he wheeled out Ash Atalla and called him "leg mental"? It's weird because on XFM he'd pull up Karl for calling certain people "little wheelchair fellas" and a few years later he's saying "the sex is shit but you've always got a parking space at Tesco".


True, but I think he was less interested in desperately justifying it.  Doesn't make it alright but the deniability of contentious material was there, which it really isn't now.

Ron Superior

Quote from: Schnapple on May 25, 2022, 11:19:38 AMAbsolute shit for cunts and not worth the analysis at this stage, but I think what bothers me more than the material is Gervais's pathological insistence that he's operating on some superior level of irony, that he doesn't really mean it, the 'target' of the joke, etc.


Exactly. The insistence on pointing out how ironic and not serious it is is pathetic enough when you see him lapping up the genuine cheers from the crowd at him saying how women aren't funny etc, but when he's actually retweeting praise for him for saying stuff that everyone else is thinking but afraid to say, then the whole irony argument completely falls apart. He's a fucking bland, unoriginal, hacky, lazy coward.

madhair60

#377
Edit: No point getting into a barney over the fucking Darkness


idunnosomename

hahaha didnt know about that. though barely anyone watched it in the first place it seems.

from the wiki, unsourced but lol.

QuoteAlso, the show did not have a theme tune so at the end of each show, Gervais asked viewers to record and send in their own mixes. Few were received. Two of the episodes used a theme tune co-written and performed by Stewart Ferris and Emma Burgess.

Ferris



Quote from: WikipediaGervais is a fervent supporter of gay rights and has praised the introduction of same-sex marriage in England and Wales as "a victory for all of us", saying "anything that promotes equality, promotes progress ... You can't take equality 'too far'."[166]
Ain't that right, Ricky?

SteveDave

At least we know he'll burn in Hell alongside Dorkins when he dies

Justin Hawkins is a big cardiacs fan, so lay off the lad!

This popped up on my youtube feed one day.


Unfortunately, even though it's really short, I could only get through a couple of minutes. I found him to be deathly boring and a little bit annoying in the way that some posh people can be.

I watched supernature and it was bobbins. Some of his other specials haven't been entirely awful, as Pink Gregory says, but this was just a total flatline all the way through. Not even a chuckle, and yeah, as Barry says, the cunt has been taking little pot shots from the wings for a while now, and he's only now nailing his colours to the mast because he feels that it's safe to do so.
All this "You can't cancel me! I'd just tweet it again, that's what I'd do!"
When "mong-gate" happened, when he was still using the word long after even this place had ditched it, didn't he apologise and promise never to do it again?

As others have pointed out, lots of Stewart Lee aping, and I kept getting flashes of James Corden as well. They're quite alike in a lot of ways.

Jumblegraws

Quote from: ImmaculateClump on May 25, 2022, 02:14:45 PM.
All this "You can't cancel me! I'd just tweet it again, that's what I'd do!"
When "mong-gate" happened, when he was still using the word long after even this place had ditched it, didn't he apologise and promise never to do it again?
This is something people don't mention enough, of all the Craig Ovens stand-ups, he's one of the few who actually did apologise for a controversial bit.

Rich Uncle Skeleton

Quote from: Schnapple on May 25, 2022, 11:19:38 AMAbsolute shit for cunts and not worth the analysis at this stage, but I think what bothers me more than the material is Gervais's pathological insistence that he's operating on some superior level of irony, that he doesn't really mean it, the 'target' of the joke, etc.

Legitimately funny 'edgy' comedians don't feel the need, either because they're confident enough that their audience get it, or better/worse, they simply believe what they say, or at least happy to play with the idea that their audience believe that to be the case. Even Jimmy fucking Carr barely wastes his time laying out this sort of shit.

It would almost be excusable if he wasn't constantly manufacturing this image of an uncompromising voice of reason existing on a higher plain than your average stand up. He can do all the offstage philosophising he wants about his "craft" but however desperate he is to be seen as some angry, daring stand up speaking truth to power, he has neither the material nor the balls to back it up.

Like you said, anyone doing this sort of 'edgy' stuff well doesn't need to spend half the time explaining it all. He can't just tell the (really poor) jokes because he knows the audience he's accidentally lumbered himself with are probably taking most of it at face value. But he also needs to couch it all in some bollocks about irony for the world at large, flattering the audience that they're in on the joke in the process. When really they just want to hear a millionaire tell them it's alright to dump on trans people etc. or want to hear the word cunt crowbarred in to a routine/tommy wiseau tier series about being a kind arsehole.

He's painted himself into a corner. Trying to be everything to everyone whether its a really shit George Carlin to an audience he used to imply he really didn't want, or curling out hollow rubbish like After Life for sycophantic Live Laugh Lovers who huff every last guff and dutifully call him a genius. I refuse to believe he writes a programme like that and thinks yeah that's really great work and not just cynical rubbish for morons.

JaDanketies

Maybe his next sitcom will be When The Whistle Blows

Jumblegraws

Quote from: Pink Gregory on May 25, 2022, 12:18:53 PMAh you're right, I was thinking of the Ken Dodd fan bit.  Was it Fame when he was going on about chronic fatigue?
Yeah, a bit which also features him play-acting an African man in a voice he based on Nelson Mandela. "One false move and I'm Jim Davidson" he says, which at time I thought was a lazy attempt to cover his arse but now seems downright creative when compared to just flat-out lecturing his audience on what irony is.

bgmnts

What is ultra bizarre about Gervais is that he is a vegan, and so should have a basic respect and compassion for all benign life really, trans-people included. I just don't get the blindspot.