THE RICKY GERVAIS SHOW: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
(not rated)
MOVIE: ***** (out of 5)
DVD EXPERIENCE: ** (out of 5)
BY KEVIN CARR
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Several years ago, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington started doing a podcast where they talk about random topics. It became a hit online, and now HBO has animated selected episodes and broadcast them as a television series. Listen to Gervais and Merchant pick Pilkington’s brain about a strange assortment of topics, from population control and dinosaurs to Pilkington’s oddly orb-shaped head.
WHAT I LIKED
With complete understanding that I may be overstating my love for this show, let me say this… Funniest DVD ever!
Not since I put “Anchorman” into my DVD player years ago, planning on falling asleep to it and being kept awake by my own laughter, have I found myself laughing so hard at a television series. I know that this is nothing more than Flash animations of Ricky Gervais’ podcast that he’s been doing for years with Merchant and Pilkington, but not having listened to it before, this was remarkably fresh and achingly funny.
The concept is so simple… just a few guys chewing the fat. In a seemingly random assortment of topics, Gervais and his team find humor in everything. Of course, the butt of most of the jokes is Karl Pilkington, and really the contributions by Gervais and Merchant is just their incredulous reaction. But it’s a brilliant chemistry that is so rare in television, radio or podcasts.
Even if you listen to the podcast and this is a rehash of material, there’s the cute animations to go along with it. While Karl Pilkington waxes poetic about everything from aging backwards to the latest in monkey news, the audience is taken along an animated journey that illustrates the bizarre world of Pilkington’s brain.
“The Ricky Gervais Show” is easily one of the funniest things on television, whether it be broadcast, basic cable or pay TV.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
There’s not enough. I want more, more, more. And I need to subscribe to the podcast now.
DVD FEATURES
The most disappointing thing about this DVD set is the scant special features on it. There’s an animated promo for the Comedy Gala in the U.K. as well as the storyboards from an episode, but aside from this, the bonus material is bollocks (as Gervais might say).
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Fans of Ricky Gervais and his brand of humor.