After Life

[Butchers Blind]

Hate all the way down. Hate!

[frajer]

Curious that Gervais didn't quote tweet this and try to set his followers on Heidecker like he normally would with a 'civilian' account.

What's the matter, Rick - too challenging for ya?

[dead-ced-dead]

Curious that Gervais didn't quote tweet this and try to set his followers on Heidecker like he normally would with a 'civilian' account.

What's the matter, Rick - too challenging for ya?

I bet Gervais hates that this Acaster quote is going to follow him forever. It must sting.

[Barry Admin]

The above pic reminded me of the show Gervais claimed he was gonna make with Clyde Phillips from Dexter.

Then I looked for it and found it was actually called Afterlife. But it was gonna have Gervais making cameos as the devil, or something:

According to Entertainment Weekly, the duo is working on a new series, which follows an atheist's journey to heaven after his death.

Unlike The Office or Extras, Afterlife won't be a starring vehicle for Gervais, but will instead feature another actor in the lead. Like the comedian's upcoming series for BBC Two and HBO, Life's Too Short, Gervais will simply make a cameo, or a series of brief appearances throughout the run of the show.

At present - and because Gervais and Phillips are reportedly in the first stages of writing the pilot episode - there is little to go on in terms of casting or the network on which the show will air. It's not a far stretch to see the BBC interested in yet another Gervais comedy – with HBO waiting in the wings for US distribution.

I was struck by how such a brave guy as Gervais always has to have a solid excuse for his nasty Bernard Manning level material. It's okay, my wife is dead. It's okay, I'm the devil.

[There Be Rumblings]

I was struck by how such a brave guy as Gervais always has to have a solid excuse for his nasty Bernard Manning level material. It's okay, my wife is dead. It's okay, I'm the devil.

Shandling called him out on something similar as well in the infamous interview.

He observed that even when he was delivering his red hot takedowns at the Globes and such, that Ricky couldn't help but give a little cheeky grin after each one, just to make sure they knew he was joking.

"You still want to be loved", was how I think he phrased it. And he was spot on. Gervais wants to shit on people but he always has to have an excuse to hide behind, he's too much of a coward to actually own it.

[Gurke and Hare]

I bet Gervais hates that this Acaster quote is going to follow him forever. It must sting.

Well, you might think that but did you know that Ricky is in fact very very rich?

[Bunty Levert]

I hadn't seen this from Stewart Lee on Rob Brydon's YouTube channel before:

Lee: I think Ricky's comedy drama work is of diminishing returns to the point where it's now abysmal. I think it must be very sad if you're teaching drama or creative writing, how can you make a case for the things that make drama and creative writing good when After Life is a success, y'know, because your kids could just go "but none of those things happen in this", and yet millions of people watch it. I think it's one of the worst things ever been made by a human-

Brydon: *fails to stifle a laugh* but I read that you were a big influence-

Lee: I know, yeah well it's awful, it's like-

*both talking at the same time*

Lee: Well, I don't suppose Robert Oppenheimer felt great about having created the atomic bomb

Both: *open-mouthed, head-back laughing*

Brydon: And that's the most obvious comparison!

[CatrinJ]

Remember this?

What on earth have I just watched?

[badaids]

Remember this?

Come off it that's not real.

Is it?

[dead-ced-dead]

Come off it that's not real.

Is it?

It's as real as a

What on earth have I just watched?

It's a masterpiece. Don't pretend it isn't.

[Cold Meat Platter]

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/ricky-gervais-criticism-after-life-netflix-stewart-lee-b2601349.html

Bit of a Gervais critique in the Independent there after the recent resurgence of Stewart Lee's criticism.

[Mr Farenheit]

[idunnosomename]

Oh and never count your money
Just, count the lines
Round the eyes of your wo-ohh-man
That were, made from smiles

[Ferris]

Remember this?

I'd forgotten he'd written a song with the drummer from Razorlight. Good heavens.

It has the classic gervais music over video trick: "the images must line up with the lyrics (even when that's absurd)"

[twosclues]

The comments are the funniest thing he's been associated with in a long time.

[Ferris]

Some delving into gervais/after life deep lore:

The 60-year-old has penned a tune called Just Three Things which will become part of the soundtrack to his black comedy Netflix series After Life.

"I wrote a song with Andy Burrows for After Life. It's not in the show but the instrumental is, because it's really good – we recorded it and I've even cut an unofficial video for it," he said.

"I'm worried about putting it out because I'm embarrassed as it's a real song," Gervais explained. "I can put out ironic songs as David Brent but I haven't written a serious song in 40 years so I'm thinking, 'What if it's crap?' – but it's not, it's really good."

The whole article is amazing.

https://www.indy100.com/celebrities/ricky-gervais-first-serious-song-b1968305

[Des Wigwam]

The comments are the funniest thing he's been associated with in a long time.

Under weaknesses.... You've put songwriting

Big lol.

[BritishHobo]

Hahaha, I'd forgotten that. That's iconic - I worried it was crap but, do you know what, it's not. It's really good.

The fundamental turd at the heart of After Life is the fact that it's all about Tony. Dead Beryl or whatever her name is is a flat plot device. His grief and memories are never about how incredible she was, they're just about how funny she found him, and how much she loved him, and how many great pranks he got to do on her, and how she would always say really nice things about him. There's never a sense that he's angry at the world because she's a three-dimensional person who deserved better - he's just angry because something has been taken away from him, Tony, the universe's main character.

[Midas]

I was disappointed that there was barely any pushback against the installation of those vulgar advertising benches, as if the normalisation of public spaces being commodified and branded and integrated into the marketing machine of capitalism was a price worth paying to ameliorate the problems facing "cash-strapped councils".

[PlanktonSideburns]

Well, Stuart Lee did kick that one bench to bits

[markburgle]

Oh and never count your money
Just, count the lines
Round the eyes of your wo-ohh-man
That were, made from smiles

"What about that one there? SMILE OR FROWN?"

"Um, I think another frown."

"For FUCKS sake Susan. Three measly smile lines?? You're making me look a right cunt"

[Ferris]

They'd be made by smiles, surely?

Another "first draft = final draft = early lunch" winner by Rick.

[Ferris]

"I've cut an unofficial video for it" you're the bloke with the writing credit who paid for the studio time, how much more official could it get? It was never physically or digitally released so who is this samizdat "unofficial" video (slow pans of a 60yr old man on a park bench in a graveyard) for??

As for using the word "cut" offhandedly in an interview with a credulous journo to sound 'with it' instead of, say, a tedious 63 year old man from Berkshire. What can you say.

A bizarre man.

[Mobius]

I was disappointed that there was barely any pushback against the installation of those vulgar advertising benches

you try pushing back against ricky gervais and see how that works out for you! #kindnessismagic

[frajer]

Dear Ricky, I counted the lines round my woman's eyes that were made from smiles but the urge to kill is rising again, what do now?

[dead-ced-dead]

Dear Ricky, I counted the lines round my woman's eyes that were made from smiles but the urge to kill is rising again, what do now?

Stick on some twee indie music, imagine your woman swimming in a lake with a rictus grin.

[There Be Rumblings]

Oh and never count your money

Now I think about it I don't think I've ever heard Ricky Gervais mention money, how much he gets paid or all the expensive things he can afford.

It's just such honest, heartfelt writing that really shines a light on the beautiful soul of the man behind the music.

[Pink Gregory]

Hahaha, I'd forgotten that. That's iconic - I worried it was crap but, do you know what, it's not. It's really good.

The fundamental turd at the heart of After Life is the fact that it's all about Tony. Dead Beryl or whatever her name is is a flat plot device. His grief and memories are never about how incredible she was, they're just about how funny she found him, and how much she loved him, and how many great pranks he got to do on her, and how she would always say really nice things about him. There's never a sense that he's angry at the world because she's a three-dimensional person who deserved better - he's just angry because something has been taken away from him, Tony, the universe's main character.

see that could be interesting if it was taken as a flaw that Tony has to work out.  But it's Gervais, so Tony basically has no flaws to correct other than being a bit rude.

[markburgle]

"Your woman" is such weirdly dated, 70's hippie language. It's also tone-deaf bollocks to try - in 2024 - to try to write this big universal-message song but then with two words reduce it's actual audience to cis-men, as if they're the only ones who matter.

I know he'd say "yeah but it's written for the character in the show ahhh" but that's a shit argument - context matters. As much as he fucking hates it this is the age of questioning-of-privilege, and failing to accommodate that in the lyrics to your shit song makes you sound like a total anachronism

[frajer]

Stick on some twee indie music, imagine your woman swimming in a lake with a rictus grin.

Tried that Ricky but turns out the resulting iPhone footage is too insane for even me, a serial killer.