"Ricky Gervais" - podcast episode cover

"Ricky Gervais"

Jan 05, 20261 hr 7 minEp. 287
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Summary

Ricky Gervais joins the SmartLess hosts, sharing stories from his illustrious career. He delves into his shift from writing and directing to primarily stand-up, emphasizing his unique approach to controversial humor and maintaining "low status." Gervais also offers a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of The Office, its international adaptations, and passionately advocates for animal rights.

Episode description

This week we find Mr. Ricky Gervais, dusting off old awards from 20 years ago (again!?). Trade secrets, cannibals, getting a crab drunk, and table tennis in a snorkel. Honesty is funny, so how do we look in these slacks? Welcome to an all-new SmartLess.

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Transcript

Intro / Opening

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New Year and Guest Introduction

Happy New Year. Hey, Happy New Year to you. Yeah. Happy New Year? What are we doing? Happy New Year to you. Everybody sleep okay? Anybody party last night? No. No, no, no. Is it New Year's Day? Oh, sorry. It's not New Year's Day. Oh, sorry. Are you missing something? Sorry. I don't know. Stop saying sorry. What is happening? Is that your New Year's resolution is to say sorry for all the things you've done wrong in 2025? No.

How long would the list be of things you have to apologize for? Hey, do you guys mind if I just interrupt real quick and say welcome to a brand new smart list? Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Oh, yeah. Smart. Hi, guys. Are we rolling? Yeah. Willie, you look really handsome. You've got someone just off camera. Who's the surprise? Listener, we've got a special guest. The director and co-star of the great film, Is This Thing On?

Bradley Cooper's GQ Game

Dude, I can't believe I'm going to get a little peek behind the curtain here. Wow. Yeah, man. This is amazing. It's so cool to have you. Hi, Bradley. Well, it's so fascinating. Wait, but haven't you done, you've done a, I feel like you've done a double. Or am I thinking of you and Downey, Will? No, because he came to the live show. I did your hundredth episode. But live. I remember you on stage. And then I came to the live. But you've done this. But I don't remember like...

But seeing Sean in his habitat and you, it's cool. For the listener. Sean chewing. There he is. Sean's got a hat on, glasses. Jason looks like the guy from the Maxell commercial. He does. I still have my PJs on. You know what? This is fun because we've never done this in intro with a surprise guest. So, Bradley, why don't you guess what Sean is eating? Don't tell him yet, Sean. Oh, okay. Oof.

I'm going to show you. Was there? Yeah, show me. Give me a little hint. I just do like this. Oh, is that some sort of pie? Is that a glaze on top of vanilla glaze? Probably. Hey, it's 9.31. It's got to be a glaze. All bets are off. No, it's a cinnamon, butter cinnamon. Sugar English muffins. Every day is fourth grade graduation. Oh, did you make that? So butter cinnamon on an English muffin you just toasted. Yes. And by the way, and for the listener, great...

You covered all of the surface of the muffin. Look at that horse. Look at that, guys. Hey, Bradley, how are you? Yeah, what are you doing over there? Did you guys have a sleepover last night? Yeah, we're living together now. We're back to living together. We've gone 180. 360? 360. Yeah, thanks. We just came from press, so I was just going to run to say hello. We were just doing a bunch of press for the movie every day. I love that.

We just did this GQ game. We just did this, what was it, GQ? We just did this, you have to guess how well you know each other. You have to guess how well you know each other. Yeah, how do you do? Because, listener, they both do look literally like they just came from a GQ shoot. They look gorgeous these two. Thank you. You do, you both are great.

Bradley won because I gave him extra points. I was really magnanimous. What was the contest? I was generous too. You were generous too. No, the answers were generous. What was the contest? What's my middle name? The contest is like, yeah, it's like, yeah. By the way, do you know? his sister's names? Yeah. Wait. Tannis and Chardonnay. No, Tannis is right. That's good. Chambly. Shanley. Wow. That's it. That's good, JB. And your middle name, Will, is William Gordon Arnett.

Almost. Boy. Gary. Sean, do you know my middle name? Go with the Val. Of course I know your middle name is Emerson. Okay. Nice. Yeah. Wait, is that right? Bradley, yours, what's the first letter of yours, Bradley? C. Channing. No. Curtis. No, no. Chad. Close. Come on, Sean. No, it's Charles. Yes, it is. Wait, are you Googling, Sean? No, I know this. God, I wish it was Chad. I'd call you Chaz every day if it was Chad. They were like, what's your favorite movie?

What's your favorite? Yours is with Nail and I. Mine's with Nail and I. And Bradley, yours, Bradley, yours is Ghost. Ghost, that's right. Yeah, the director's cut. Yeah. Wait, Bradley, what's your favorite movie? I want to see it. You know, he knew that I couldn't answer it. Like, I don't really have one. He doesn't have one. He loves them all. Well, you have, what's a couple of them? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, what are they?

Like an Elephant Man apocalypse now, you know. Beverly Hills Cop. Beverly Hills Cop, Three Stooges. And they said, what is one thing? Here's what they said. What's one thing about Bradley that people don't know? Yeah.

Ricky Gervais's Grand Entrance

And I said, well, there's a lot. And then I was going to say, because we keep reading, people, everybody thinks that Bradley's had plastic surgery. Everybody keeps saying that. I'm like, what people don't know is that he hasn't. That he hasn't.

Of course he hasn't. I get like people, like some people came up to me the last couple of weeks and they're like, oh, you look good. Yeah. Yeah. But it's a crazy, it did make me think and then I was like, I was like, oh, I didn't want to get, but then I'm like, I should have.

It made me mad because I'm like, people say that all the time. And I'm like, it's such a hilarious thing. Everybody thinks that they know. You know, you read bullshit stuff. I've been cut to ribbons. But look how it's worth it. Look at this. What look is that? What did you get? This is I Was Asleep 45 Minutes Ago. And we've got a young aspiring guest.

that I didn't need to do a lot of research for because this person hasn't done a bunch. So I'm just kind of ready. Wow. I mean, your guest must feel great about that. Bradley, we actually might need a little bit of help. Give us five more minutes here and help us with this. It's a very exciting, comedic...

voice coming out of the UK. He's received some great momentum from his last couple of stand-up specials. He's got a new one on Netflix now. He's a fan of the UFC, David Bowie, Animals of All Kind. Let's get him. Guys, Give a warm welcome to England's brightest new star. I want to get this pronunciation right. Ricky Gervais. Ricky Gervais. Is that right? Do I have it right, sir? Look who's back in a second.

The Office and Early Impressions

It's like reunion night. Ricky's back. Bradley's back. Everybody's doubling up. Good morning, Ricky. Hi. Hiya. Hi, Ricky. Does that sound good? Christ, look at the row of BAFTAs behind him. Are those real? No, it's a grain's grain. Ricky, can you do the podcast and just make sure your camera's covering all the awards before you hop on?

If we widen out, we'll see more. Ricky, we've never met, but what a great thing to see you. Nice to meet you, man. You two have not met? No. Wow. I don't know anyone. I think I met... Jason and Will, my first even brush with Hollywood about 20 years ago, and I just kept them as friends and didn't add anything to that. I didn't need to. Yeah, I love all your shows, man.

Oh, thank you, man. Cheers. I loved extras. Oh, my God. What isn't good that Ricky's done? All right, guys. All right. Bradley's got to go. Love you, Bradley. Bye, buddy. Bye, dude. You know, Ricky, I was on a plane, an overseas plane, so I had a lot of time on my hands, and I went into their little entertainment offerings there on the plane, and I climbed into office. the Christmas special. Fuck. I ate that up so deeply, making a real idiot of myself and the folks next to me.

Just, I know you don't want to talk about The Office anymore, and I'm not asking any questions about it. There's no question here. It's just, you're just it. I just love your, what you do. I could eat it all day. Oh, that's lovely. Thank you very much. That's just so now I've got to be nice to you. Yeah, that's my strategy.

Acting, Humor, and Praises

But Ricky, did it look like Jason was reading that off a script? No, I know he can't read. He was a child star. He didn't need an education. He didn't need anything to fall back on. Nothing. And he's kept his looks because sometimes child stars, they start looking weird. Yeah, give it a couple more years. They sort of turn into like a weird little monkey. But he's still...

Nearly handsome. I'd better take my hair off and you save me. I watched the film with you in, actually. Carry on. I loved it. I thought you were great. Oh, thank you. You did sort of menacing really well because obviously... I find you funny. And there was, I could still, you could have made a joke at any point. But it was really good. It was quite...

It was quite chilling. Any drama is always one line of dialogue at the end of every scene from becoming a comedy. I know. I know. Well, I sort of turned down a lot of... Not big... dramas but thing i thought they just laugh i turned down they wanted me to play winston churchill And I was going, they're just laugh. They're not going to be lost. I'd give anything. I would have given anything. It would have been terrible. I'd have hated every minute of it as well because...

I'd have had to have every day the bald wig. Actually, if I leave it a couple of years, I won't need that. But it would have been three hours in makeup and... Puffing a cigar. But what was that? Was it Intolerable? No. What was a Quentin Tarantino film where Mike Myers played a German soldier? Inglourious Bastards. Inglourious Bastards, yeah. Right? Right. And I started to smile when I saw him and then realized, oh, wait, I shouldn't be.

But it's fine. You get right past it. And your acting talent, like you never tell jokes. Your acting talent is just. incredible. And so you could seamlessly and effortlessly play somebody dramatic. Right, you've got to stop this now because I don't know whether this is a wind-up or not. I'm just waiting for the big punchline. And look how handsome you look today.

All the time you were saying that, I was looking at Will. I was thinking, what's Will going to say now? I just love the work you've done for animals and with your time and what you've done and really how you've inspired millions of people. It's the worst case scenario ever. Oh, God. Oh, God. And just how thoughtful you are. And I think for me, that just really... I don't know. God, I can really...

I'm choking up. You can hear me. Yeah, you're wetting up, I can tell. People say that my crying sounds like laughing. Yeah, I know, you're not a great actor, but I can tell what you're trying to do. Sean, do you have any praise for Ricky? I do. I sent him an email after I saw Afterlife, and I thought it was great. I was late to the party watching it. No notes.

No notes. No notes at all. No, no. I thought it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. I mean, is it locked? How is this the biggest entertainment podcast in the world? Zero idea. I've been pajamas. Yeah, we haven't covered anything yet.

SmartLess Origins and Friendship

You know, I was thinking about that on the walkout to plug my computer in. And all I'm thinking about, I'm thinking, I'm about to chat with my two best friends and Ricky Gervais. I'm not thinking about this going out to X number of people. And I think that's a really great thing. I hope we never lose that. In fact... Will and I and Ted and Mitch did a few of these in lockdown. And it was just, it was...

It was lovely because that's when you really remembered you had friends when you couldn't see them. That's how this whole thing started. Yeah. Oh, was that when you started? Yeah. I did this in lockdown, didn't I? You did. You were one of our first. You were one of our first. You were in our first batch. Gosh, that doesn't seem that long ago, but it was five years ago. It was five years ago. When I did that, I thought, listen, let's help these guys. And then five years later,

Right, they need my help again. Yeah. Let's give a little leg up, a little injection. Yeah. Yeah, of course. A little vitamin R injection. Listen, man, we're happy that you're on here helping us out and your backdrop with your dusty old awards from 20 years ago. You know what I mean? It's just... For us... How dare you? Yeah. Most of them have rusted out.

Career Shift: From TV to Stand-Up

I used to see you a bit more. It's like going to a museum. It's amazing. This is so educational. Have you not been coming out here lately? I used to see you a lot more. I used to have dinners with Will. Well, the truth is, I've still got a place there in New York. And yeah, for the last 20 years, I used to come out like...

It's got like six, seven, eight times a year. Whenever I had something out, the second series, I'd come out, I'd do the chat show sort of thing, New York, fly to LA, do that. But I think... Not just because of COVID, but since COVID, sort of things have changed, really. Yeah, you can do everything from home. Well, yeah, and Netflix, they've got like 300 million subscribers. They send an email. I don't have to go on a chat show and...

play table tennis in a snorkel. You know what I mean? But you're also doing... But Ricky, you're... You're also doing... You're also doing stand-up so much more now than you were 15 years ago. That's absolutely right, yeah. Right? So it's kind of changed the way that you interact with your fans a little bit. Well, I think I started off...

Yeah, writing and directing and being in stuff. And I'd fit in a little stand-up tour when I could between writing and, you know. And then I think Humanity was the first one. I hadn't done it for like seven years. And after Humanity, I thought, oh, no, this is my job. I'm a stand-up now who I'll do the odd TV show and film when I have time. And I just flipped it. And I think in the last eight years, I've done four tours.

and four specials and it felt like I'm fitting other stuff in and I want that to continue. Well... to a certain degree. It does get harder. You don't mind the travel? All that touring, there's a lot more travel with that than doing the acting stuff, right? Yeah, but honestly, I do the most... luxurious tour possible it's like i'm i do two or three nights away at the most and four nights home um i i you know i i hop i hop private to all around europe you know i

I do three trips to North America and get it all done then with the biggest venues I can play. Now, did Jane go with you? No.

Yes, yes, all the good places. She comes to America, Canada, all the lovely places in Europe. She doesn't come to some of the seaside towns of England out of season. But yeah, no, again... make it a little weekend break so i'll play prague arena and we'll go the night before we'll have dinner we'll walk around all day and then i'll pop to the arena and do a gig and then we fly home so it's like you know 46 hours

holiday and two hours of work so it couldn't be better but still the last few years if I do two or three gigs in a row I wake up I think

Aging, Napping, and Sleep Patterns

was I run over last night. I'm absolutely exhausted. It's age. It's like, also, I think, I don't know what it's like, what it'd be like for people to see me at 70. I'm already sort of... and I shuffle around like an angry old... Sorry, you're not yet 70? I remember the first time I met you, right? It was in the makeup trailer on... The Invention of Lying. Invention of Lying. And I said something like, so you're 40, and you went, I think you were 37 or something, and you went, you think I'm 40?

You were like that. You couldn't believe that someone thought you were two years older than you. And then someone else came and said, he thinks I'm 40. Why do I sound like Mrs. Doubtfire? You bastard. It was like that. And then I think you mentioned it again. I'm 38. So, yeah, I get it. Like, there's no way you miss being on a set for 12 hours a day. Yeah, come on. Honestly, I do. Because, no, honestly, I...

The thought, I will do it again, but the thought of doing it again, like eight weeks up at the crack of dawn, eight weeks. So at the moment, I'm... Just finished a tour, but I'm starting again straight away in January. I'm doing warm-ups for the next tour, which will be two years. I'm just finishing the first season of an animation I've been working on for two years. But I've been doing that...

with having a nap every day as well. So I do all my work. I work 10 till 12, have lunch, come home. I get 40 minutes nap. And then I... So you can't do that on set. That's out of the question. I'm a big napper, and funnily enough, because Winston Churchill famously took a nap every day, even during the war, he'd get full of pajamas between the sheets.

So we call it Mark Chappell, whom you all know, Chappie. We call it taking a Churchill. That's good. So I, as often as I can, take a Churchill. I took a Churchill this morning. Yeah, it's great, isn't it? Oh, it's the best. I look forward to it because I wake up tired. I wake up at seven and think...

oh, I'll have a nap in five hours. Do you know what I mean? It just gets me through that first five hours. Are you a good sleeper, Ricky? Like, do you go to bed early, wake up early? Do you get eight hours, all that kind of stuff? Yeah, I do. I probably do.

I think I've had a bad night if I don't get eight and a half hours, I'd say. Oh, good. Good for you. Yeah, and you know you have to get up. Like, I know that feeling like it's seven o'clock in the morning. Like, I should get up because that's what people do. Yeah. But if I had...

the choice i would just stay here but i have to i should get up well that that's always been the case in fact i've got earlier as i've got older again i think it was in covid i used to get up at half nine and think oh i gotta do it and now i and now what I can't not get up at like 7, 7.30, but I feel like I want to. I could easily, if I didn't wake up, I'd just keep going. Yeah, it'd be lovely, but...

As soon as I look at the clock and go, right, that's it. I'm 6 a.m. every day. I can't help it. And I was just in London again for a couple of days, and I... It's dark right now until about 8.30 in the morning. So, you know, now I've got like two and a half hours of dark after I've woken up and I'm like, fuck, it really fucked me up. Yeah, the tears. Yeah, I bet. I seem to...

Canadian Connections and Honesty

I don't usually beat the sunrise. That's pretty rare. Ricky, I will say this about you talking about going to the cities, and I know that about you. I love that you go and you really like, that you and Jane go for a meal and you walk around. And last summer... I think we might have texted about this.

You went to Toronto and did a gig in Toronto. One of my favorite. It's my favorite place. And you talked about how it was your favorite, and you love going to the island, Toronto Island. Oh, I love it. Every person I know in my family, because Canadians are so proud.

in the nicest way. They're like, my dad. My dad's like, hey, your buddy Ricky came in and he loves the Toronto Island, eh? Like, they love it. Is that the name of a comedy spot or is that literally an island? It's a park. It's like a park. It's a beautiful island. It's like an island where... where residents live. And it's so lovely. And you just get the little boat over for like $10 or whatever it is. And I stay in Yorkville. I just love walking around Yorkville.

And then I hopped to Montreal and I love Vancouver as well. I love Vancouver. I've only been to a few, but I've been to, I think Vancouver, Banff. Toronto and Montreal, and that is my Canadian experience. And I'm from... My dad was from... From Kitchener, right? It was sort of near London, Ontario, sort of near Chatham. It was called something like...

Oh, pont something. And he was a World War II vet, yeah? He was. He volunteered, right? So, yeah, he joined the Canadian Army to volunteer, and he got stationed to... uh europe and i think he spent most of his time in britain he drove i didn't talk about it much to him but he drove tanks he delivered tanks to the front jesus yeah yeah um

And that's where he met your mom when he was over there? Yeah, he met my mom, got her pregnant. That's what happened. And just stayed. And just stayed. I think my oldest brother was born... 44. He's Larry. He died recently. Then my sister, 47. And my next brother, 1950. So I was 11 years. After all that, I don't know what happened there. Your mom admitted it was a mistake. Yeah. When I was about 13, I said to her, why am I so much younger than my brothers and sisters?

And she just went, you were a mistake. And I laughed. And that taught me that honesty is funny. Honesty has always been the funniest thing for me. People who just say the first thing that comes out and they mean it, that always makes me laugh. That's why anger's funny, because you can't help it. It's a visceral reaction. If someone does that, I want to laugh. It could be anything if someone bumps their head and they go, ow!

Fucking hell. Like that. I want to go, that's the funniest thing I've seen today. But I've got to make sure they haven't got a concussion, they're not bleeding. But then I ask people their permission. If someone falls over, I go, can I laugh now? And we will be right back. Cold mornings, holiday plans. This is when you need your wardrobe to just work. Stuff that looks sharp, feels good, and you'll actually reach for.

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Comedy, Taboo, and Audience

And now back to the show. Now... What I love is that you're always so beautifully unapologetic about leading your audience with like, this is okay to laugh at. But obviously we've gone through a section of years where people were a little bit uncomfortable about laughing at some of the things.

that were freaking hilarious. Do you get the sense that the audience that you're in front of now, that that whole thing is starting to soften? It is, and it's cyclic. It's not the first time it's happened. I've experienced it three or four times. in my career, let alone my lifetime. But these things, they come and go.

they're like fashion really and it's like it's generational and they kick out the past and they they want to be you know quite rightly more progressive than the last one and sometimes sometimes they get it right sometimes they get it wrong sometimes things were okay sometimes this is the best we've ever been we don't need to change stuff but they have to have a go and I think we have to go through it and um uh I I think that um you sort of

you sort of ride the waves and you're, you're, you know, um, I mean, comedy seems to be at the, on the front line. Yeah. Of course. People can go. People would rather someone say something awful and mean it than say something awful and be joking. Like, sometimes they're angry that you would joke about a terrible thing.

Sometimes people are angrier at someone joking about the terrible thing than the terrible thing. Because they know they can't do anything about that. But they can tell someone off. for laughing at someone's terrible. Is Jane still your most trusted sort of barometer of that which is funny or not? Like, do you trust her laugh the best? Yeah, well, I do run things. pastor. Because I'm excited, I think.

you know, we're just a vessel for ideas. You know, I don't sit down and go, I've got to have a great idea. That's because it doesn't happen. You live your life and then something comes in your head and you go, oh, thank you. I usually have, I'm going jogging and I come up with an idea. Oh, that's a good joke. And I run home and I tell Jane, I go, look, I've got an idea. I tell her, she says, please don't say that in public. And I know...

I can work on that. It's got something. I know you're joking, but you're also being serious. Is it because... Is it because you trust your ability to match performance to content that it would make it somewhat palatable? And like, yes, I get it's offensive, but I know I can deliver it in a way where I... Yeah, there's lots of things. One... I like the challenge, you know. There's no... I can point out funny things, but there's...

You know, they're like found objects. Where's the added value? What have I done to it? So the harder dive, the thing that tantalises me more is, can I make a terrible thing funny? How do I do that? How do I make them, you know, and I deal with taboo subjects on purpose because I sort of want to take the audience to a place that hasn't been before.

So you're already, as soon as I approach a subject, I can feel the, what's he going to say about that? It's the elephant in the room. Sometimes pointing out the elephant in the room is funny enough. It's like just even... And you're probably touching on a lot of things that people want to say themselves or thought themselves. I think that's exactly it. I think it's exactly it. And you know when you see an impressionist and they do an impression of a person?

and then you can do the impression of that person. Of the impression, yeah, totally. It's like I've reduced it for them to go, well, this is the meme. This is that terrible thing you don't know how to approach. This is a good way to do it. And it's a discussion. It's the thing that excites you about it, Ricky, because I think that I see it a lot in your comedy and it's something that kind of excites me too. I'm not a stand-up, but that you...

This idea, I can relate to sort of the idea that... getting into subject matter that is taboo or dangerous or that people don't want to talk about and figure out a way to sort of shed a light on it, make a joke about it, and do it in a way that you can kind of work around really hard parameters.

Persona vs. Vulnerability in Comedy

That's exciting. That's where I feel like a schoolboy, where I'm getting away with saying the thing that the teacher, that I'm not allowed to say. So how do I get to it that's... okay and still get my point. You know what I mean? Well, that's the thing. Obviously, you want everyone to laugh, right? Yeah. You can't...

You can't second guess. You can't try and make anything so anodyne that everyone likes it because that won't happen either. Most people are going, this is horrible, this is anodyne. So you've got to polarise by mistake. If you're doing anything that's slightly interesting, slightly contentious...

as many people are going to hate it as like it, because everyone's different. So you just do what you think is right and funny. And I do want everyone to like it, but if they don't, there's nothing I can do about it. Some people say... Like journalists, they say things like, is there anything you won't joke about? And I want to go, is there anything you won't write about?

It depends on what you say. It's bad. And most offence, most offence I've noticed comes from people mistaking the subject of a joke with the actual target. They see a joke about a contentious stuff and think, well, that can only be bad. And it's just not true. Because we discuss bad things all the time and we come down on the right side. So I'm just doing it and hoping there's a punchline as well. There's just...

There's nothing wrong with that at all. Talk a little bit about the difference. You do many things incredibly well. But one of the things I really marvel at is that your stand-up... Persona, and I don't mean to say that it's contrived. So persona is probably the wrong word. It is, though. It is to a certain degree. But there's a swagger.

that you have on stage when it's Ricky Gervais that you couldn't possibly have in real life knowing you but it's part of the joy that I love that there's just no fucks given or no apologies Not in an asshole way, but I just love going on that ride. Yet when you're playing some of your most iconic... characters, Andy Millman or David Brent, there's a level of vulnerability and insecurity and brokenness to them that is so heartwarming and earning and lovely.

Like, how are you able to find the bullseye of humor in both of those polarizing kind of strategies? You know, ones with swagger, ones with... Well, I think as long as it's a realistic portrayal, it doesn't matter. what it is and because you know people are complex so

Even my villains, I sort of give them a bit of redemption or a bit of backstory or why are they like that? And I think you'll find that with everyone. Everyone who's sort of like a little bit nasty or arrogant, it's because something bad happened to them probably. you know there's usually a reason to it and we're all like that and we all go around thinking oh we all live in our head because we walk around thinking oh everyone everyone is thinking i'm a loser i've got to act a bit

Because look at them, they're great. But they're living in their head too. They've got all the same insecurities as you. I think that the comedy at its best is saying, we're all idiots. Let's just admit it and get on with it. So even when I do the swagger on, that is a bit of a persona because I've got to have that. I've got to have that faux arrogance so me falling down is funnier. Yes. If I just come out and clown and go, oh, I'm slipping over.

Boring. If I come out and go, right, I'm the best thing since sliced bread and then slip over, that's so much funnier. That's so much funnier in life and in character. And the other thing is I've got to keep comedians... stand-ups and certainly british stand-ups We're jesters. We're court jesters. We're down in the mud with the other peasants laughing at the king. We're low status. Now, how do I keep low status? Because everyone knows how much we earn now.

So I've got to keep, I can't fake it. I can't pretend. I can't go, oh, I was on the bus the other day going to claim a welfare check. You liar, right? So I can't do it like that. i keep my low status in two ways one I show them that it's not all glam, all the silly things I've done, all the mistakes I've made, all the faux pas I've made in Hollywood, all the ways the press have called me an idiot and caught me out. And the other way I do it is...

I talk about things where they're better off than me. I talk about being fat and old and going to die and going bald and balls distending. You know what I mean? So that's how I keep... In a way, I don't think that I keep low status. I try and keep same status. Right. That's what I want to do. I want it to be us against the world. And are you able to tap into some of this sort of explanation and theology when you're trying to court folks on the...

Celebrity Self-Parody & Future Projects

extras to sort of you know when they come out and they parody themselves a bit like are you able to sort of make them feel comfortable like we're all idiots I'm an idiot come on and have fun at yourself I found that the the stars that I approached, right, that was like a day after them. They wanted to do it. They wanted to go...

Let me show the world I've got a sense of humour about myself. Because there's so many rumours about these people. They want 12 white kittens in their trailer. They want the trailer to be big. Someone else has to flush the toilet. They want to go, let me show them I'm normal. Let me show them I'm an idiot. And some of them made it worse. Some of them went, oh no, do this, do this, do this. I did this once. It's cathartic. It's like a day off for them.

And I think that's fun. And I've played it myself a couple of times when I've been the other side, like Kirby Enthusiasm, where I was thinking, oh, I've got to parody myself. And it is fun. You do it anyway. If you write yourself a part, you've got to... You've got to parry, you know, a little bit. But it's nothing new. It was nothing new. The Muppets used to do it. When I was a kid, I used to watch The Muppet Show and they would have on Big Stars and they would be the idiot. The Muppets won.

It's like being interviewed by Jiminy Glick when Marty Short is Jiminy Glick. Oh my God, I was interviewed by him and I just... You can't compete. The worst thing you could do is try to one-up him. It's like, no, just show up. No, you can't. I was just laughing. I wanted to hug him. I wanted to go, right. I wish... I want to say I wish this was real. I wish people were like this all the time. But I felt that...

I did a Muppet film, right? And Constantine was the evil Russian frog. And I just wanted... I wished he was real. I wished I could take Constantine... I did all my press stuff with Constantine because it was so good having... Yeah, you... I like being the lower status. It's good to play the arrogant idiot who wins, but it's much more fun to... I like it when I'm insulted in fiction. I love me being the butt of the...

Well, so how about – could that possibly be a new angle on whatever sort of filmed entertainment, like scripted entertainment you might be doing next? Because fans like us, like we – love the stand-up stuff, but we want it all. Is it going to be another show? Is it going to be another movie? Is there anything close to the... Yeah, there is something that's...

that's close to parodying myself that I'm going to get around to one day. I can't even tell you. Anything you can talk about? I've got the title, I've got the idea, but I can't even discuss it now. Would it be maybe shooting in the next 12 months? Yes. Oh, you'd... Oh, you lot would be roped straight in as my only friends. We're available. We're available. Yeah, you're in it. But I've just finished a thing called Nearly. It's like...

Alley Cats and Comedy Leads

It's like two years and it still isn't quite finished and it won't be out till the end of next year. Doesn't animation take a long time? Yeah, it's incredible. But it's a six-part thing about, it's called Alley Cats and we're a group of sort of feral cats living in a disused basement. and we watch tv and go out and cause havoc and uh it's it's a lot of it is improv as well there's their storylines but they're the sort of

you know, the meanest, weariest cats in the world. But, you know, they're losers as well. They're the bottom of the pile. It's all about sort of like survival. And it is all about that thing that... when you're the bottom of the pile and you know you can you can be angry you can lash out because there's there's a reason you get away with a lot because you're not there's nothing perfect about you yeah i i think that's

That's funny, isn't it? Because that's one of the big differences between sort of drama and comedy. You know, the lead in a comedy is a putz, whereas the lead in a drama is perfect. He can't slip. He can't hit his head. He can get shot, but then he's got to go, it's just a flesh wound. I can't do the voice. Will, do the butch voice, will you?

The Office: Creation and Craft

Do the butch voice. Do that butch voice you learn when you got here. When my balls dropped. Hey, listen. Hey, Rick. Rick, listen. When... When this summer, did you do, did you, when you were doing The Office, which is a great, it's kind of Jason's earlier point, it is a great acting triumph, that series for you, playing David Brent.

And I'm sure you got asked him fucking a million times, and I'm sorry. They all are. He never sucks. No, I know. Yeah. And did you, how much of that was, and then when you're first making that, of course, it's kind of like, you know. They made the internet without the internet. You know what I mean? You made the office without knowing, with no reaction. You made it in a vacuum. That first season, there's no reaction. So you're doing it. Did you have...

Any idea that what you were doing was special? Or working. I knew it was different. You did know it was different. And were you guys improvising? Were you improvising a lot? No, I was... I was the only one that really improvised at all. And I did that at the beginning and the end of the scenes just to make the actors think a little bit and make it real or do something different to make them laugh or whatever or just something new. Put them on their back foot. But it was...

I'd say it was 99% scripted. And what we found, and I've always found this, actually. But the behavior was improvised, though. Do you know what I mean? Well... sort of, you know, I did want to be an actor's medium. I remember saying to, like, sometimes the DOP might go, it'd be good if he came in and sit there. I'd go, no, I said... come in and sit where you would. And I said, we're filming. It's like wildlife.

But, you know, we had to stage it a bit because they had to be... Of course. Because we didn't cheat. So, you know, some documentaries... But you wanted cameras to react, right? Yeah, well, it's one camera. So if someone went through a door, we wouldn't... cut to a camera there waiting for them. We'd followed them through the door, so it was all possible. So we probably cheated less than real documentaries in a way, which was a bit of naivety, but I think it came across.

But we had to find people who got it, just that they had to say these things. And I do remember that, you know, we were meticulous. No, do it like this. No, because it's gone. You know, we saw the whole picture. So we would make them. There were sort of multiple takes for them to get it.

you know, how we wanted it. Did you find that the cast bought into it early on or did it take some convincing? Because they didn't have the reaction from the audience either, you know? No, no. I think, well, it was finding them. It was the... once we'd done this sort, because it's the first thing I did, and I sort of cast it with someone in my mind, like I had these characters, like Gareth was based on a kid I went to school with, right?

when I was like 14, 15. And he was in the Territorial Army and he spoke like that, right? And he said, this is a true quote of this guy, I won't say his name. He said, when you're captured by cannibals, right? and you're in the pot and they're cooking you, they show you pornographic pictures so you get an erection and there's more meat.

Right? And so... And once, right, I did this in some of my stand-up. As a joke, I was talking to him once and I told him, when we were a little bit older, I told him that... I said, if you get a crab drunk, it walks forwards. And he came back off holiday.

Right? He'd been on holiday with his parents. And he said, you're talking shit, Gervais. I did it to a crab in my beer and it just walked sideways still. Right? So this was the sort of... So Gareth was based on him. And he was quite sporty. How did you find that incredible? incredible actor that could hit that tone without any winking at all. He was just, what was that? But what made it even better?

was this guy was quite a sporty guy. He played cricket, football, he was big. And I was looking for this guy. I was looking for a guy who came in and talked about killing a man and all this. And then when Mackenzie Crook walked through, and he's about seven... stone and looks like a baby bird, it was even funnier. Because suddenly him talking about, I could kill a man, yeah, if I was in the jungle. No, you couldn't. You definitely couldn't survive. You'd be eaten by a lizard.

immediately so there's surprises with but we cast and cast and cast and I remember it was like you know 2000 and In England at that time, you either got these people who talked like that, who was like, you know, they were like that, they were sort of like, you know, this and that, or they wore bonnets and spoke like the royal family. There was no one who acted in between.

Comedy was sort of quite heightened. Everyone still talked funnily like that. And so you had to tone it down. And once we found the people that could do that, they could do anything. They could just do it. They could just...

Global Office Adaptations

act naturally and do... Did you have success? I mean, I love the American office as well, but as far as I'm concerned, I can't touch what you guys did in England. Were you able to have at least the amount of success? comedically tone-wise with the other international iterations of the show? Because you've done it, what, 16 times did I read around the world? Yeah, well, I usually, on all the others, I, you know, I... I okayed it. I'd see a rough thing. I'd see they'd cast a fat 50-year-old.

as Brent. And I thought, they're doing it right. And I often watch the first pilot. Some of them I haven't seen a minute of them. I've seen clips. But, you know, and they have to make it... There was a funny one. There was a French one. And you know when Tim puts Gareth's stapler in jelly? Yeah. In France, they put it in a big cheese.

It's like this. It's that easy. How do we trance like this? Well, we like cheese. Let's put it in cheese. I thought you were going to say they went on strike in the pilot and then they just came back episode four. Right, we're doing satire now. And listen, man, we're having fun. We'll be right back.

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Comedy Influences and Arrested Development

And back to the show. What a great success, though. I mean, I'm sure you felt like you were in such a... Such a vacuum there in England, and you're doing, what, only six episodes a year, but then it takes off. Yeah, well, we got that. I was a big fan of Fawlty Towers. That was the first time that I saw, like, this is my, this is so perfect. And they honed the script. You know, often British sitcoms were written by...

You know, people banging out on a typewriter over the weekend and they'd, you know, they'd do loads. And this was like, you know, 12 episodes. So perfectly, like possibly the most perfect farce. ever committed to TV, Fawlty Towers. I thought, that's... That's what we do. We do it. This is boutique. But that was a sitcom, right? Shot proscenium style, right? Multiple cameras, audience, studio audience. You did the opposite of that in that it was single.

camera very quiet there was a lot of humor in the in the in the discomfort of silence and awkward beats well i stole that from spinal tap anything you say that i invented i'll tell you where i stole it We all do. All of us. All of us. Yeah, my God. We were inspired. Jason and I were inspired when we were just shooting Arrested Development in the first season. We watched your show religiously. We watched your show, and we were crazy about it. We were like, holy shit.

look what these guys are doing like we were fucking blown away oh yeah yeah that's truly I give you all credit I mean because as you know a huge fan of all of yours. Well, then, like, I think we told the story last time you were on. Then it was like, you got word to us that you might be interested in...

actually coming over and doing an episode of our show. And Will, wasn't there like some sort of like ridiculous argument high up at the studio level with them like wondering, yeah, should we really buy him a first class ticket to come over? I think like the phrase was.

He's not going to put new people in the tent. Like, it's not worth the fucking plane ticket to bring him. Remember? Well, they're right. They were right. Wasn't there that, like, ridiculous argument? No, because Ricky, no, because he won. He wanted like 12 kittens in his trailer. When Ricky made that point earlier, he was just reading off his own writer. Arrested Development, or arrested, as Will calls it. He always gets me out. Didn't you just get... I think it was... I think you were voted...

For like five years, when it was an hour long it was on, you were always voted best comedy of all time, weren't you? The best unwatched show. Yeah, yeah. Well, and then we got a little bit of awards attention and we got to stay on a little bit longer. And speaking of awards, we're going to ask you for some advice. Ricky's going to be blown away by this. You ready?

Awards Season & Hosting Globes

A nice bit of love from your friend. No, I know. You've been nominated for a Golden Globe. Yeah, so I think we're going to get up there on stage, maybe present at a minimum. I think you've got a great chance. I think you've got a great chance because this is... Really fun. You've got all the big guests. You're like, you're huge. It's friendly. You're very, you're not Hollywood in that, but you're very...

You're very Hollywood, the three of you. I mean, you're three people at the top of their game. I think you've got a very good chance. I'm trying to think. We don't... I just don't want our patter to like – I hope they don't write us some weird patter. Just say no. Whenever – even when –

Even when Arrested Development wouldn't give me a first-class ticket, I was still arrogant. And when I was handing out awards, I said, I'm not doing it with anyone. I'm not going out with someone I've never met, doing a bit of shtick. I said, I want to come out as me, and I'm just going to do the thing. And they let me do it. The best thing, too, is the default is just to read the prompter without any bits, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I think I complained every time I got there. I said something like, I've come a long way for this and I didn't win. I was usually up for an award. I tell you what, you know, I've been nominated 25... Emmys, and I've won two. Now that is just taking the mickey, innit? That is like, get him over here again. Get him over here again.

Let him think he's going to win again. Get him over. And at least I thought, oh, you're right. I used to hand out an award at least. I used to get up there somehow. Your host, but your hosting of the Globes, what did you do, five or six years? It was just... Priceless. Ricky, do you watch it at all anymore? The Globes? The Globes. I don't think I've ever watched an awards ceremony I wasn't at.

Well, for a start, the Globes and the Oscars and all those in America, I'm in bed. They're 3 a.m. here. So that's not the question. I sometimes check out... i check out the monologue if it's a comedian you know um so i thought i thought yeah oh yeah whatever um but no i don't i I mean, I don't know. It's all changed. You can't take it seriously. You mustn't take those things seriously. No, you can't. You've got to treat it like a night out meeting your friends or a job or, you know, it's like...

It's an industry award. I like meeting all those people, all those fancy folks. It's nice to see people. The only reason it's on telly is because it's an industry award for really famous people. The teaching awards don't get... televised, do they? They don't do it for...

Science awards, really important awards down here televised. I love to put a bunch of booze on the table too. They try to get everybody hammered so when they go up there, they do something entertaining. Well, that's the great thing about the Golden Globes. That's the good and bad thing about the Golden Globes. The Golden Globes is better to be at.

And the Emmys is probably better to host because at least they're all in their seats and they're listening and you can do your... I've never hosted the Emmys because it's too much work and you have to rehearse. There's no rehearsal hosting the Globes?

Crafting and Filming Stand-Up

No rehearsal. No, I talk about this in my special. 30th of... December. Yeah, I came and saw it. I saw you in October. Oh, you saw it just before I think I filmed it. Before you filmed it. I saw Ricky at the Palladium in London. Chappy and I went over and watched it. It was great. It was brilliant, man.

Oh, thank you. It was brilliant. It was brilliant, brilliant. And yeah, you talk about, it was fun, and the audience was so psyched, and you were really funny talking about hosting the Globes and what that was like. Yeah, I talked about some behind the scenes, just like... what it was like for me and uh and what happened and uh as a couple of really funny stories but um

I can't tell you. Don't do it. No, because they need to watch the thing. Was the show that Will went to, is that the one that you filmed? How do you decide which one to film? It was the venue and maybe the week. but not the night. Right. Because I did about, I did like, I think I did 14 shows and I taped. Two of them. How is that traditionally decided? Is it usually you want to film one of the later shows because you're still working on the material? You want it to be ready.

You want it to be ready and you want it to be as soon as possible while it's still fresh and you're still sort of, you know, into it and, you know, loving it. So it was within the last sort of like five or six shows, actually. You want it to be a venue that you can do a night before warm up in the same venue.

And you want it to be as intimate as you can without it looking... And you have to wear the same outfit. Yeah, I was going to say. I wear the same outfit. Well, that's fine. I do that anyway. I could do it tonight. I haven't changed my hairstyle in 22 years, so it's not a problem, that. And you do two, just in case. And usually...

You make sure you nail it on the first one and make sure you've got everything. And then the second one, you just have fun. And in the cold light of day, the first one is always the best. Yeah, of course. Because...

It's more self-indulgent than the second one. You're going, I'm going to love your time. I'm riffing, I'm riffing. Then you get into the studio and go, well, people at home aren't there. So they just want to hear what you had to say clearly. And it's always that first one that wins every time. But I even do things on the night that I haven't done before, little things I try out. Because you can always edit it out. So, you know, I film too much and crunch it down.

I'd probably do 70 minutes and it comes out at 65. Just so things didn't hit so much. Or two jokes about the same thing. I'd let go of that and just sound too much or cruel or whatever. Or something that wasn't ready. I'll go, I won't put that in. I'll work that up. That'll be in the next.

And as far as your material goes, have you found that the sourcing of the ideas that you get has changed over the years? Has the ratio kind of stayed the same as far as pulling from family and friends funny ideas and news ideas? No. It's still Hitler, AIDS, in that order. Classics. Shitting yourself. Classics. Evergreen. Evergreen. The stuff that got us here. You know what I mean? Yeah! Yeah. Well, also, that translates as well. Yeah.

If I work up my show in England, I've done 50 shows in England, and it's all about what was on telly last night, or our prime minister, you have to go about universal subjects. And joking aside... My use of universal subjects are usually things like what it's like, you know, ego, bad days, getting old, or, you know, so I... I try to be more timeless than topical.

Right, so this one called Mortality, is that the theme of the whole thing? Is sort of mortality? Again, it's a jump off. It is about me getting old and grumpy and getting annoyed at stuff more and more. Again, it's quite... classic you know everyone goes through the phases of their life um sure you know i think it it it is about it's not it's not zeitgeisty but it is clearly about now

But I hope it lasts. But I will say, Ricky, that's one of the things, again, about sort of the office and your stand-up, which is, and you just said I was about to jump in and say that it's not Zeitgeist C, and that's what gives it. All those best comedies aren't because they do have that evergreen thing. They do. It is about these characters who are flawed. The relationships between people, certainly, and the dynamics of the office between the different things. I mean, that...

you know, is just as relevant today as it was 25 years ago? Well, I think so. I think if you go classic, sometimes I even go retro, but like... This project I'm working on now, Alleycats, it's like 2D retro. I want it to be Hanna-Barbera mixed with sort of 60s Disney. So if you look at it in 20 years, you don't go, oh, what were they thinking of then? It just looks...

Classic. It's already sort of classic. It's already stood the test of time, the way it looks, you know. So I do, yeah, I am quite conscious of it sort of being universal. and timeless and and uh uh because you notice as well if you suddenly it's going well but you you get to paris and you go well i can't do that bit can't do that bit they won't know who he is i can't do it it's really sort of demoralizing so

And they know they surrendered. You know what I mean? So you don't need to tell, you know what I mean? You don't need to do that joke. You don't have to remind them.

Animal Rights Advocacy

When did you, did you enter the war? The war after my dad volunteered in 19... Trying to think, boy. It's funny, I did change my number, so I don't remember getting a thank you. So maybe that came, maybe that got... Well...

Ricky, if with all of your influence, your access, and credibility, capital, all that stuff, if you could point all of that towards something that is not... comedy not stand-up not movies or television stuff like that like a documentary or something like that well what what would what would the audience be surprised that you would if you had to shine a light on something would it be like animal rights like a documentary on animal rights well that's the first

one, I suppose. I think that... And where'd that come from? Did you have pets when you were a little kid? Yeah, it was always quite important. Pets were like... you know, member of the family, you know, growing up as sort of like a, just a working class family in England. It was all about the kids and pets. I remember when I was, I was about 15 and my... My brother, as you know, 26, 27 at the time, he came over with a couple of his kids, right?

And the kids came running into the house to my mum and they went, nanny, nanny, daddy just punched a man in the face and knocked him over in the park, right? And my mum was like horrified, right? And then Bob comes walking in and she went, they said you punched a man in the face. And Bob went, yeah, you kicked the dog. And my mum went, oh, fair enough.

And that was it. And that was like, that was the life lesson. It's like some things are all right. Sometimes violence is justified. It was always about, you know, I've always... I've always thought animals were unconditionally perfect and beautiful and should be treated.

Wow. It's all about empathy, isn't it, really? And I know you guys are the same. I've never understood animal cruelty. And then the older you get, the more you find out, well, there's so much animal cruelty that you didn't know was going on, and you're... you're sort of like, you're cashing in on it without knowing. And so that's why I became vegan as well, because the terrible cruelty in the sort of farm industry, you know, and I thought, oh, I can't really.

I can't really be saving dogs and eating sheep. And so, yeah, you just – If you had to make a choice between bringing one person back to life –

Talking Pets and Episode Close

It could be any person, historical figure, family member, whatever it is. Or give voice to one animal that is alive right now. Like your pet could talk or you could bring back a person. What would you pick? That's really good. Well, it would be, oh my God, they're both pretty irresistible, aren't they? Yeah.

it's too risky in it bringing someone back because you might bring back oh I'd love to you might bring back Einstein and he keeps going yeah I know he equals MC squared I know I've got it I've got it shut up fuck me why did I bring you Yeah, now he's got to catch up. It's got to be my cat talking, hasn't it? You've just got the one pet? Yeah. One cat? What if my cat was really boring? Oh, God. Or had an attitude.

I'm sleeping. I know you're sleeping, but we can talk now. What if your cat just said, this whole time I've been all over you because I'm a sadist. I just want you to fucking kick me. Oh, God! I just, that's what gets me off. I just want to get kicked. And you spent all this time telling people not to kick. And that's the only thing that gets me off is getting kicked. Obviously, we're going to cut this bit, right? We're definitely going to cut this bit. Keeping this bit, leading with it.

That's the opener. It's the only thing that gets me off. I'm not going to sleep now. I'm not going to sleep now. Oh, God. All right. So now you've got a chatty cat. Yeah. And all right. I think that's a good decision. What's the cat's name? She's called Pickle. Are you sure? Yeah. I've had lots of cats. Yeah, yeah. But so if you had to give voice to one, it's going to be Pickle. It's got to be Pickle. Pickle's alive.

Your current cat is your favorite, and you probably forget how much you love the other ones, and then you go, oh, my God, this is, you know, yeah, you two. They become a member of the family. What's the life of a cat? Sean, hang on one second. Sean, what's your dog's name? Ricky.

Excellent. Look at that. Yeah. I've always known that my name should either be a child or a dog. Dog, yeah. It doesn't really suit a man in his 60s, does it? Yeah. Never Richard? Ever. When he's back. No, it was Ricky Dean Gervais. It was apparently, it was a thing, what shows lower class from a name most in America. And the top name to show you were from a lower class was Ricky.

Really? Yeah, apparently. Somebody is having a gag on you. Sean, what do you think Ricky, your dog, would say if he could talk today? How do I get out of here? How about stop curling my hair? Well, I crimp it. I just crimp it. I don't curl it. I crimp it. Ricky is such a beautiful dog. And Ricky, you're a beautiful guest. When's the special? When's the date on it? The special's out.

It's out now. It's out now. It's already out of the charts. It's already made number one. This is absolutely fucking pointless, this. Okay, you ready? I'm going to do this. So, Ricky, your special came out December 30th. It's already number one across the world. I don't know how we both... We'll catch you. What incredible success and congrats on all the nominations. Yeah. Really great. Let's do one just in case. Say, Ricky, just after your special came out, you had your testicles removed.

from cancer just in case let's do every scenario yeah just like when I'm down I'm alright with testicular cancer now when you're about 50 you forget about it's arsehole it goes Don't worry about your testicles, mate, but we've got to check your arse now. I'm out of the woods. My testicles are safe. They're absolutely safe. Well, there's a fear of them getting trodden on these days. Safely tucked in your socks.

We love you and thank you. And please say hello next time you're out here. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I did last time. Oh, I wasn't there. Where was I? Oh, you weren't this? No, when was that? That was the last time I played the bowl, when we all came to Ted's house. Oh, the bowl. Yeah. It was two years ago. It was a while ago. a while ago I will I say I'm bad you were in England recently weren't you you didn't say hi

I'm not. It's Will that has the sleepovers at your house, not me. Wow. I'd love to. I need friends. I don't have any friends. I got these two. Help me out. I know. You're all busy.

You're all too busy. We're all too busy. I'm too old. I'm too old and grumpy and antisocial and you're too busy. That's fair enough. We'd be perfect. I'm just like a cat. I don't talk. I'm sitting in the corner. You know what it's called? It's called making an effort. You make an effort. I go there and I make an effort. I reach out.

to Ricky and I say, what are you doing? He says, I'm busy. I'm going to come see your show. It's called Making an Effort. Okay. Ricky, thank you so much. Teach me, Willie. Teach me. All right, Pelly. All right, have a great rest of the day. Bye-bye. Thank you. That was absolutely a pleasure for me. I hope it was a pleasure for you. It was. Thank you. I understand I'm the first, second guest.

The first... You are the first second guest. I'm sorry. First guest to do two... First repeat. The first repeat. Yeah, that's the word I was looking for. I'm getting tired. The money's the same, though, so don't look for an increase in your check. I won't. Wait, isn't it? Yeah, it's after half past nine, isn't it? It's, uh... No, sorry, half past six. Yeah, half past six, that's...

I've only got two hours before I think about bedtime. Dinner time. Say hi to Jane at the dinner table for us, please. I'm going up there to eat now. Thank you. Yeah, love to Jane. Great to see you. Cheers, guys. Bye, pal. Thanks, Ricky. Bye, buddy. Bye.

Reflecting on Gervais and The Office

The great Ricky Gervais. Our first return. And that's the bar. That's the bar right there. You don't get to come back unless you're Ricky Gervais good. You know, I don't remember him going into so much detail about The Office. It was really cool to hear that. I know. When's the last time you guys saw that? Seriously, I was on the plane a couple weeks ago. I hadn't seen it since we watched it, Willie.

It's been a minute, but you know what? In that time, I will say, and really, I know Ricky was part of it, and credit to Greg Daniels and Mike Schur and all those brilliant people that we love over The Office and all the performers. The American Office was... Very funny. Fantastic. And I ended up watching the bulk of it during COVID because I missed, there were gaps in it. And fucking hell. I mean, first of all, Steve Carell,

was, you know, because Ricky cast such a huge shadow. Right. You know, what he did on... I remember thinking like... Who is this guy, Steve Carell, thinking that he can do what Ricky Gervais, and he made it his own. He just did it different. He made it his own, and he drilled it, and oh, so good. And it's tough. Those are big shoes to fill. All of those characters were so specific. And everyone in the American office came, made it their own, kicked the door down, and...

I think inarguably became a bigger success than the British one. Yeah? Yeah. Who knows? Like you said, it's so hard to write a part and a tone and a voice of a character and then have an actor match that. Like, what are the odds of that? Yeah. I loved, yeah. I also love Martin Friedman. I'm such a fan of Martin Friedman's and he was so good.

And I love that show that he did, The Responder. I think I mentioned it before. It's a BBC show set in Liverpool. He plays a cop that came out two years ago. He's unbelievable. Well, you just fire up Ripbox and you just start knocking down shows? Kind of. Yeah. No, I know. Are you doing a plug for the BritBox? I mean, I'll do it. Do I have BritBox? No, you have. Yeah.

Do I just, I just, I guess it's a certain channel. I got to find it. It's a fun callback. That's a fun callback to do I have to be, you know? Sean, do you have one yet? Well, I was thinking of to be, to be, to buy. No, no, no. It's too much of a reach. Okay, what about...

sort of bi-coastal. Well, their shows are so, their shows are so, those are shows, you know, all those shows. This is going to be sloppy. I can feel it sloppy. They're so good and they're so rare that they're really hard to come. Bye. Bye. B-b-b-bye Smart Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Rob Armjarf, Bennett Barbaco, and Michael Granteri. Smartless.

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