British Comedy Guide

Ricky Gervais at the Princess Diana Gig Page 3

Quote: Martin Holmes @ July 3, 2007, 11:21 AM

Open your eyes, Ricky is suppose to be this countries top comedian and his appearance was cringeworthy, he deserved that for been all smug all the time, can't wait to see what he pulls out at Live Earth next week...any bets he'll "pretend he doesn't want to do the dance again"? Or maybe sing a couple of more songs from The Office that was about 5 years ago.

I still think your being a bit hard on him, after all it was only the first song that was planned the rest was him filling in due to technical problems.

As for him being smug this is just an act for the telly it’s not real.

I’ve never seen any reports of him being difficult in the real world, I think your getting the two confused, he could if he wanted milk his fame a lot more than he does but I get the impression that he would quite like to slip in to the background, which would be a shame for those of us that enjoy his humour.

If you watch some of the DVD extras and behind the scenes stuff your see a happy slightly childish man which at times could get a little annoying but I see no smugness

It's a shame that they cut so many extra songs and then Gervais had a million hours to fill. I couldn't watch after he started singing the Bowie song and nobody knew it.

Fearne Cotton was annoying as ever.

Quote: Britcom Barry @ July 3, 2007, 10:55 AM

Give the guy a break, the only laughable think I could muster up if face with a crowd of 60 thousand plus people and the odd billon or two on TV would be to wet myself.

Yeah, but you are not Ricky Gervais. Thats why they didn't ask you to perform.

I wanted Arcade Fire to play so they could do 'Tunnels' Thank you i'm here all week.

I wanted the Primitives to play 'Crash'. NaNaNaNaNaNaNa Slow down you're going to crash

No, my line wasn't any better

Surprised Smashmouth weren't on the bill

Quote: Britcom Barry @ July 3, 2007, 12:56 PM

I still think your being a bit hard on him, after all it was only the first song that was planned the rest was him filling in due to technical problems.

As for him being smug this is just an act for the telly it’s not real.

I’ve never seen any reports of him being difficult in the real world, I think your getting the two confused, he could if he wanted milk his fame a lot more than he does but I get the impression that he would quite like to slip in to the background, which would be a shame for those of us that enjoy his humour.

If you watch some of the DVD extras and behind the scenes stuff your see a happy slightly childish man which at times could get a little annoying but I see no smugness

I don't believe its an act, he's been doing that 'act' since the 11 O'Clock show so either he's a one trick pony and thats the only 'act' he knows or that's just him, how is "I'm just off to dinner with Ben Stiller and Jerry Seinfeld" not smug yeah he's saying it to get a laugh but he is actually doing it too so it's still smug.

And he wants to slip into the background! That's bollocks, if you want to slip into the background stuff like the Diana Concert and Live Earth and having a huge poster of your face plastered around the country is not the best way to go. The tides will turn soon anyway when people get tired of 'cringeworthy' humour and go back to shows with funny plots, characters and jokes. I am a fan of The Office but Extras was just poor and Gervais will have to do something very different with his next project otherwise he'll prove the "one trick pony" comment even more. I guess he's always got "the dance" though right?

It's the hardest thing in the world to get laughs in a stadium or any open air venue because the sound takes longer to reach some areas. It's especially hard to get laughs in that situation if your going for subtlety or trying to be ironic. But it's impossible to get laughs anywhere if you haven't thought up (or bought in) some funny bits. Any comic being asked to fill in for three minutes would be in heaven and not know what to leave out. Ricky is a TV comic, vastly different from a crowd charming stand-up act, and when faced with a restless audience, betrayed that.
My son (Paul Adams, comedian) was at the Royal Albert Hall last Wednesday, opening for Smokey Robinson, and when we go there we don't do gags we do bits. Stuff with the security guys who are on stage, stuff with a guy who's back stage...just stuff that's funny. But it's special material put together on the day for the purpose of winning over the crowd.

Yeah, Gervais was definately not doing a professional performance by any stretch of the imagination. It was like a greatest hits, like the other performers were doing.

Quote: ajp29 @ July 3, 2007, 3:21 PM

I wanted Arcade Fire to play so they could do 'Tunnels' Thank you i'm here all week.

:D

Quote: Rosco @ July 3, 2007, 3:39 PM

I wanted the Primitives to play 'Crash'. NaNaNaNaNaNaNa Slow down you're going to crash

Laughing out loud

Quote: ContainsNuts @ July 2, 2007, 6:15 PM

i was surprised that mid-tour he didn't have any more jokes to tell. The Brent-Gareth song was good, but he assumed that everyone knew the words to the Bowie-Extras one. He wanted to do the dance, he was already doing the waving hands bit as he came on stage.

From what I hear. RG was asked by the Princes to do his dance. That was what they wanted. RG being a nice guy obliged.

I didn't see it but was he really embarrassed - died on stage - or was he playing the part of the loser who would and therefore played the part brilliantly?

On the danger of sparking off yet more Ricky Gervais arguments I'm resurrecting this thread to post this story from The Mail. Whether or not you like Ricky you gotta say well done Steve...

Daily Mail Story (click)

The Guardian sums up the story pretty well...

"Stephen Merchant bravely took a swipe at Elton John at this week's GQ Man of the Year Awards, reports the Mail. When Sir Elton called Merchant to the stage to accept the award for comedian of the year, Merchant carried on eating his dessert, finishing his glass of wine and then eventually sauntered to the stage after several excruciating minutes. He explained: "I just thought I'd keep Elton John waiting for a change - like he did to my friend Ricky Gervais at the Diana concert..."

Laughing out loud Nice.

Oh, so that would explain all about the talented Mr Gervais then.

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