r/rickygervais

Spud made a very astute observation about Ricky when he said that if Ricky had to choose between being the funniest man in Britain, voted so by his peers, or being able to beat up some thugs in a pub, he’d choose the pub every time.

That captures Ricky’s essence perfectly, though his "toughness" has since evolved. He’s no longer posturing as a physical hard man; instead, he’s desperate to be seen as this "counter-cultural rebel." He’s traded the pub fight fantasy for the role of the fearless truth teller and entertainment raconteur. It’s the same projection, just with a different little costume.

I think Ricky’s biggest problem (which was always there even in the early days but has been fully unleashed and taken over every other facet of his personality) is a profound, deep insecurity. He has a pathological need to be revered or admired by almost everyone. He even told on himself with that story about throwing his back out on a golf simulator just to impress complete strangers. While it’s a funny bit and has an element of self awareness, it’s a perfect microcosm of his ego: he will literally injure himself for the validation of people he doesn't even know.

We saw the first real cracks during that late 2000s attempted transition to Hollywood. It felt like a massive sellout, especially when you compare films like Ghost Town or The Invention of Lying to the philosophy of The Office.

The reason The Office was so groundbreaking was that it was the ultimate "non-sitcom" sitcom. It was the antithesis of Hollywood artifice. I remember a behind the scenes bit where they discussed the original pilot; they felt that even that scene of having too many people entering Brent’s office felt "too wacky" and scripted. They stripped everything back to focus on naturalism and the mundane. At that time, Ricky’s work felt like a genuine rejection of prestige and the shallowness of a lot of entertainment storytelling.

But as soon as Gerv got a sniff of Tinseltown, he succumbed to the very thing he once mocked. He traded the nuanced comedy of The office and extras for high concept, sentimental tripe. It’s not enough for the pasty to be the bloke who co - created one of the most acclaimed, influential, loved comedy programs of all time, ohh no, he wanted to be a Movie Star.

It’s obvious that he wants to be seen as a Renaissance Man. I remember a podcast episode that came up on my YouTube feed many years ago that he did with Lawrence Krauss (this was before I knew all the mad shit the ol’ Kraussmeister has been accused of) and the desperation and need to be seen as some wise, profound thinker was palpable. He doesn't want to just be "the funny guy" who’s acclaimed for what he actually does which is a comedy writer and actor. He wants to be seen as a philosopher, an intellectual, a countercultural figure, and a perceptive "truth-teller" all rolled into one. He’s chasing a level of intellectual prestige that he simply hasn't earned, and it results in the absolute shiiiiiiize he’s put out for the last 15 - 20 years.

This is ultimately why After Life fails so hard (besides the fact it’s interminably written tripe). He wants it to be seen as this dramedy masterpiece. Truly great art is supposed to capture those fragments of the human experience that we all feel but can’t quite articulate ourselves. It’s a bridge built on shared, unspoken truth. After Life doesn't have that soul. It doesn’t feel like an expression of something Ricky actually found meaningful; it feels like he’s trying to reverse engineer 'meaning' because he desperately wanted to make as many people think….that man is a god. Is there nothing he can’t do?

With the early stuff the work served the art. Now, the work serves purely his ego. Every line and every overwrought, cliché, saccharine "poignant" moment feels like it’s been focus grouped in his own head to garner maximum acclaim; Not for the work, but for himself.

He doesn’t want to actually produce something meaningful or profound, he just wants to be perceived as such by people on twitter and that’s all that matters to him. He’s not connecting with the audience; he’s just fishing for their admiration.

Turns out…. he was a sad little fat man.

Anyway, I’m just about to get on a plane to Turkey with me girlfriend so I could do with shooting off, sort of, soonish. See ya next week.

My friend and I both live and work in London. We were invited to attend a conference in Edinburgh where our companies were going to pay for our travel there and back. I chose to go by train - it takes longer but it's more relaxing - he chose to go by plane.

Everything went fine at the conference, we stayed at the same hotel so when we were about to go home I asked if I could share his taxi so that they could drop me at the train station and then take him to the airport to catch his flight. He agreed to this.

It turned out that getting in and out of Edinburgh to get to the train station took a lot more time than either of us expected. He ended up missing his flight and had to pay £165 for a replacement flight, which his work have refused to cover.

He has now come to me saying that he would like me to pay £82.50 to cover half of the replacement flight. His argument is that he only missed the flight because the taxi had to go to the train station and, had I not asked to share that taxi he'd have avoided the city centre traffic and caught his flight.

I'm saying it's not my fault or my problem because he agreed to drop me at the station and I paid half of that taxi fare. He could have said no and I'd have still caught my train and he'd have made his flight.

So, Am I the arsehole for refusing to pay him this money or is he being an arsehole in expecting me to pay for this?

I googled the olympics monkey and there’s no trace of it

I was in Soho this week and was surprised to see that there are still sex shops there. But who is actually using them? All the porn is online and surely you can buy everything else anonymously from the internet. What is keeping those businesses alive? It must be one of the most expensive places to run a business in the country.

It’s upsetting