You know who Ricky Gervais is. Don’tcha? The “chubby funster” (he’s not even that fat!) has made a name of himself late in life for writing and starring in “The Office” and “Extras” along with his mate, co-writer and BFG Stephen Merchant. Prior to these opus a skinny Ricky was the lead singer in an 80’s New Romance outfit "Seona Dancing" and as management for XFM radio in London where he first met Stephen. They were both sacked not long after. His first TV break came in 1999 with an “angry man” slot on the “11 O’clock Show”, replacing the segment previously occupied by Ali G creator Sacha Baron-Cohen.
Ricky and Stephen had their own show on XFM back in 2001 after the first season of The Office, where they were landed with “round headed” Mancunian, Karl Pilkington as the producer. Four years after this initial meeting Ricky, Stephen and Karl started producing a series of podcasts, which basically focused on Ricky and Stephen mocking the foibles of Karl and his strange take on the world. These podcasts were so popular that they featured in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2007 for the “world’s most downloaded podcast with an average of 261, 000 per week.
Well those original record-breaking podcasts have now been cartoonified as the “Ricky Gervais Show” as a Channel 4 and HBO joint. I really enjoyed the podcasts when they first came out and thought they were great to listen to in the car. It will be interesting to see how this all translates out when converted to TV and whether it holds your interest. Here is a clip of the show which starts this Friday 23rd April on Channel 4. I wouldn’t worry if you miss it though as it will on C4+1, then E4, then E4+1, then More 4, then Dave, then Dave Ja Vu for the rest of your life. More importantly you can also download the episodes the day after on BlinkBox and iTunes, which is cool as then you can watch it in your own sweet time anywhere in the world on your Ipod and other media type player. I’m sure it will also come out on DVD in time for Chrimbo as well. Do watch it though so we can talk about it after the weekend!
K*
Comments