The Ricky Gervais Show

A biography of idiocy - how the show came about

The Ricky Gervais Show Series 3 was released on DVD this week. To celebrate this final chapter I thought I'd tell the lovely readers of The Huffington Post the story of how we got here.

Gervais shares his favourite clip from animated show

It may be hard to picture the usually unassuming Karl Pilkington as a ruthless boss who fires his employees with a single phone call - but that's where this little vignette from The Ricky Gervais Show comes in.

I often watch this when I have a half-hour to fill, and it makes me chuckle. Karl Pilkington works better in an audio or animated context than live-action (An Idiot Abroad), although the quality of his anecdotes and left-field thinking has taken a dip this series. You have to wonder how many times they can pick his brains before, well, he runs out of brains worth picking.

This animated rendering of Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington's weird podcast ponderings still makes for great late-night viewing. This time around they discuss the Ancient Greeks and what it would be like if Karl was president of society. Heaven help us.

This animated version of Gervais's fantastic podcasts - which also features quick-witted Stephen Merchant and Karl 'head like a f**king orange' Pilkington - returns for a third series. And this opener is one of the most hilarious episodes yet, focusing primarily on Karl's attempt to sell his latest movie idea to a pair of fictional film execs, personified by Gervais and Merchant. For those of you who enjoyed Pilkington's idea for a bizarre sci-fi romance starring Clive Owen (or is that 'Clive Warren'?), just wait until you hear the pitch for Bryan's Brain starring none other than Tom Cruise. This writer genuinely shed tears of laughter.

This episode is so funny that even Stephen Merchant's animated alter ego has to leave his seat for a moment to compose himself. The stupidity
once again hinges on Karl Pilkington's hypochondria and the pearls of wisdom he learned from a 'professional leg rubber'.

We thought the joke of this animated podcast series would eventually wear thin but not so: there's no end to the bizarre logic and mutterings of whipping boy Karl Pilkington when prodded by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. This time, Ricky reads out some predictions for the future, prompting Pilkington to share his theories.

The wonderful thing about Karl Pilkington's idiotic philosophy is that, occasionally, there's a glimmer of logic to it all. For instance, what's the point in going to Covent Garden and taking a picture of all the mime artists, when the static medium of a photograph technically renders them no different to everyone else? He also delves into the realm of psychology of self, as he ponders who he'd actually be if he had his head transplanted on to someone else's body. Something to think about. Sort of.