I think people are still labouring under the illusion that Gervais, Brent and Millman are different people. They're not, Gervais plays himself - bigotries and all - in everything. There's nothing to him.
extras... wtf?
- Thread starter bluestreak
- Start date
tarannau said:
Extras - I think some people don't quite get the funny side of cringe comedy. Lots of people didn't like The Office for that reason.
I loved Peepshow and thought their characters were really good in it so I too am disappointed with That Mitchell and Webb Look. The gags are bit weak and the snooker commentator sketch is rubbish.
Dubversion said:
How do you know that?
XerxesVargas
formerly MrMalcontent
Loki said:"6-September-06"Admittedly just before it was aired, but they're not reviews
Last nights was episode 5. Today is the 13th October. You do the maths.
SubZeroCat said:How do you know that?
Well, I don't 'know' that. But having seen or heard his stand-up, his radio show, his interviews and TV appearances, his shows, his guest appearances, I feel fairly confident in concluding that there is very little difference between his characters and the way he appears 'in real life'. Now of course, 'Ricky Gervais' might be a kind of construct as well, some kind of mask, but I couldn't know that.
I just think he has no range as a performer and that when he's being 'himself', all the bigotries and smugness are as evident as when he plays Brent, Millman etd.
Dubversion said:
Fair enough. I haven't seen much of Gervais as himself so I can't form an opinion on that.
I do still think that we're meant to hate David Brent and we're meant to think Andy Millman is a loser though, for all the bigotry etc..
It's funny, I would have expected some on here to be a bit more appreciative of his humour.
Gervais often writes outrageously homophobic people into his scripts, specifically to hold them up to ridicule.
Gareth (The Office) an obvious one, Cheggars another because he is somewhat of a gay icon.
Perhaps it is because Gervais recognises it as a legitimate source of rich humour and does it well (IMO).
Or maybe he really is an awful homophobe and I've been fooled all along.
Gervais often writes outrageously homophobic people into his scripts, specifically to hold them up to ridicule.
Gareth (The Office) an obvious one, Cheggars another because he is somewhat of a gay icon.
Perhaps it is because Gervais recognises it as a legitimate source of rich humour and does it well (IMO).
Or maybe he really is an awful homophobe and I've been fooled all along.
Termite Man
zombie flesh eater
XerxesVargas said:
That line was brilliant and it didn't seem like it was meant to be a funny part ! IMO that is the best part of the entire series and it was done by barry from eastenders
i think Gervais - and this is pure conjecture - wrings humour from these characters because he knows there's humour there, but i also think that much of the humour resides in people saying the wrong thing in the wrong place, rather than simply saying the wrong thing per se. I think it's as much Gervais taking on/ sticking his fingers up at 'PC' as it is laughing at bigotry.
Masseuse said:I like Sir Digby Chicken Caesar.
I like the dun de dun de dun galloping/escaping noises he makes with it
I know this is an Extras thread, but i think M&W is patchy but funny enough when it's funny to soften the blow of the unfunny bits. It's probably 45-50% very funny indeed, which is about 40-45% funnier than most sketch shows (and 43-48% funnier than Extras )
)Dubversion said:I know this is an Extras thread, but i think M&W is patchy but funny enough when it's funny to soften the blow of the unfunny bits. It's probably 45-50% very funny indeed, which is about 40-45% funnier than most sketch shows (and 43-48% funnier than Extras
A man who has it 67% correct.
Masseuse said:I do that in my head when I'm off to the pub now.
It makes me want to give myself a stupid funny name and gallop whilst making the noise and with my hands like this:
*should stop thinking about funny names and squirrel hands and get a job*
Masseuse said:A man who has it 67% correct.
Is that a 2.2 or a 2.1?
XerxesVargas
formerly MrMalcontent
Dubversion said:
Agree totally.
When you think about the Office - which was classic - and Extras people don't laugh that much at it. It is funny, don't get me wrong. But it is excruiating in equal measure. Often people are laughing because they feel ackward not because its funny per se.
The thing is you can tell what the "wrong thing" is going to be in the first 5 minutes - oh look a Gay man, hes going to say something homophobic. Oh look a black man, something racist. oh look a disabled person, I wonder what could be comming next?
XerxesVargas said:
and the first.. or even the third time, that can be funny. But several series in, I'm expecting a little more than an embarrasing moment over a joke about 'spastics', or getting Fern Britten to say 'cunt'*
(* actually, that WOULD be funny. Ricky - you can use that.)
mk12 said:
Make it easier for us lazy folk and tell us
mk12 said:
are you saying that if you don't find him funny, it's because you don't understand his humour?
May Kasahara
take me to the feeling
Dubversion said:
I must say, I'm with you on this one. I remember seeing Gervais years ago on the 11 O'Clock Show and thinking "Who the fuck is this unfunny, repellant, snidey shithead?" When he resurfaced with The Office I was genuinely shocked.
Now, I am not denying the quality of The Office as a whole, and I haven't seen Extras enough to have an opinion on it either way. But the main reason I haven't seen it is Gervais - he literally makes my skin crawl with revulsion. There's something in his attitude that utterly nauseates me.
Obviously this is purely my own personal viewpoint - plenty of people I like and respect find him funny, and I can't dispute their right to do so. But I personally fucking hate the unfunny cunt and his brand of humour, and I find it really, really objectionable.
May Kasahara said:
I probably find him less bothersome than you, but I do empathise. Thing is, i don't mind offensive humour or difficult characters (otherwise it would be bloody Fresh Fields) but it has to be FUNNY and INVENTIVE. And if Gervais was ever any of those things, I don't think he is any more. It's diminishing returns - I have laughed at some of his stand-up, there were a couple of gags in the first Extras that were great, but it's becoming rarer that he gets me going
mk12 said:
Are you absolutely certain this is the case? Or could it be, as I said earlier, that he's having his cake and eating it?
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