Ricky Gervais digs at Peter Kay

I've noticed a fair few digs that Gervais has made to Peter Kay, especially in the Extras Christmas special. Obviously their was the catchphrase t-shirt, but also when he said in the Extras special about not wanting to be the sort of performer who performs a music video where he would sing a famous song and get celebrities to be in the video, but for the really famous people he would get lookalikes - which is what Kay and Matt Lucas did.

There was also the Dr. Who reference (Kay appeared in an episode).

I've heard Ricky say on XFM that he likes Peter Kay's stuff, but maybe over the last few years he's been annoyed by the same things I (many) have about Kay.

This has been discussed many, many times on here and the topic has hijacked many, many threads. So I'm not sure how long this will last.

To be fair to Peter Kay (as much as that hurts) I believe the money made from his last song, went to charity.

I like Kay's stand up and Phoenix Nights, it's a shame he done all this crap lately.

Quote: Nil Putters @ January 23 2009, 1:00 PM GMT

I like Kay's stand up and Phoenix Nights, it's a shame he done all this crap lately.

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Ditto, although I've gone off Phoenix Nights a bit now.

I'm a big fan, but it has started to annoy me that Gervais seems to slag stuff off a bit. He's always laying the boot into Britian for some reason. Still, his shows are great. And Kay deserves a kick; he started so well and is just shitting it all away.

I love Gervais's output. But it does annoy me when he publicly digs other comedians. Especially when he tried to recreate a Seinfeld like show and failed miserably in capturing the same spirit it had.

I'm talking about Extras here and his Andy Millman is just Ricky Gervais playing himself thang.

I try not to listen or read any interviews/gossip for that exact reason. I enjoy Gervais' comedy greatly, I don't really want to know what he (or others) think of other comedians/personalities. It can destroy your love of their work.

I just don't understand what Kay's up to these days. He exploded onto the scene with some of the funniest stand-up I've ever seen, followed it up with Pheonix Nights and then appeared to do nothing for ages but appear on Parky, release crappy "Best Of" DVDs and then that woeful X Factor spoof thing. I understand he was busy with family things but he really needs to go back to basics and do another stand-up tour to remind everyone how talented he can be.

Quote: Nil Putters @ January 23 2009, 1:29 PM GMT

I try not to listen or read any interviews/gossip for that exact reason. I enjoy Gervais' comedy greatly, I don't really want to know what he (or others) think of other comedians/personalities. It can destroy your love of their work.

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Generally, I agree. Especially when it comes to matters of politics, charities, and other interest/pressure groups.

But criticisms of Peter Kay, that's different entirely.

Quote: Leevil @ January 23 2009, 1:14 PM GMT

I love Gervais's output. But it does annoy me when he publicly digs other comedians.

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That's exactly what he doesn't do, as far as I can tell. The instances in the first post are all us deciding he meant Peter Kay. He never slags off people by name. He's not Lily Allen.

It's worth remembering that The Office, Extras and Phoenix Nights are all co-written. There's no evidence to suggest that either Ricky Gervais or Peter Kay could equal their quality working alone.

There is some recent evidence to suggest that Kay can't.

Ricky Gervais has some 'issues' that seem to drive his statements about British comedy and British performers. It's not unreasonable to suppose that Gervais resents the public affection shown to Kay since it's likely he considers him an inferior talent.

I used to love Peter Kay untill he revelaed himself to be a money grabbing bastard who has totally run out of ideas.

I still like Gervais but I am getting sick of his constant digs at England and him telling us how much better America is.

His alleged slagging of Peter Kay and celebrity culture is fair enough but don't forget that before he made it into mega-stardom he was happy to appear on Celebrity Boxing and is an admitted Big Brother and X Factor fan.

Hypocrite?

His digs at celeb culture are to himself also.

He's always going on about how he can't resist watching Big Brother etc. So he's hardly trying to hide it away. Can't see how that could make him a hypocrite.

More like self aware and self deprecating.

I was thinking more of his speech in Extras where he talks about them being modern day freak shows and that we should be ashamed for watching them.

He may argue that was his character saying that but I think it's fair to assume Andy Millman = Ricky Gervais.

I am still a fan of Gervais but I think sometimes he takes himself too seriously, talking about his "art" and that when referring to Extras.

He never called the Office art when he was making it.

Quote: Spagett @ January 24 2009, 2:18 PM GMT

He may argue that was his character saying that but I think it's fair to assume Andy Millman = Ricky Gervais.

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I don't!

Why do people feel so comfortable doing that with Ricky, but with no one else!

He, and most sane people who watch those reality shows know it's all shite, but it's still tempting to watch. That's not hypocritical. Or if it is it's fully self aware hypocrisy. Which most of us are guilty of.