The Ricky Gervais Show

If you are a fan of Ricky Gervais then you're probably also a fan of his podcasts. They became the most downloaded podcasts of all time, with something ridiculous like eight million downloads.

Technology has yet to come up with a word for what we should call it when old podcasts are turned into cartoons and then shown on TV.

If you watched Channel 4's Comedy Gala on Easter Monday - when Ricky, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington contributed their thoughts on swimming with dolphins - you'll have seen how they, and their pointless ramblings, have been turned into Hanna-Barbera style animation. In short, it's genius.

The double bill of episodes shown tonight to kick off the series was recorded back in 2005 but given a new lease of life with the addition of pictures - and with Ricky Gervais drawn as a modern-day Fred Flintstone, they couldn't be fresher or funnier.

If this is all new to you, you'll find out tonight why Pilkington - the pair's former producer at radio station Xfm with the alleged perfectly round head - has been described by Gervais as the funniest man on the planet.

His deadpan musings on dinosaurs, monkeys in space, haunted houses and sexy metal pants are the backbone to these chats, while the other two laugh hysterically and shout him down as a gullible buffoon.

And now, for the first time, you can actually see what Karl's fantasies might actually look like. His mad theory on why air travel is intrinsically wrong, may also be of some comfort now to the millions who were affected by the volcano cloud.

The series started in the US a couple of months ago. What the Americans will have made to references to Derek Acorah, heaven only knows. Still, who cares? These three belong to us - a trio of national treasures. Fact.

We are not anti-Gervais. Yes, it is true that since Extras he's made an hour of good material stretch out over four years. Yes, it is true that his own celebrity ego dwarves those which he once set out to mock. Yes, it is true that his ironic self-aggrandising is irksomely dated and unfunny. Yes, it is true that almost his every utterance is so irritating it makes you want to tear his skin off and stuff it in your ears so you can't hear him doing that laugh at his own jokes. But still. He did make The Office, so he has a few more years of fair pass.

This is relatively entertaining in a cheap manner. It's clearly The Karl Pilkington Show: an animated version of their podcast where Merchant and Gervais come uncomfortably close to bullying Karl. Still, it is undeniably funny at times, with Karl's deadpan normal strangeness leading to moments of comic gold. The animation fits surprisingly well too.

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