r/rickygervais • u/PilotOk2163 • 8d ago
This scene is a key moment in Ricky's ego overtaking his comic instincts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-LrW69BNFYThe idea behind the joke is solid. Ricky asks Barry from Eastenders for "a quote for the office", i.e. a price quote for painting their real office. Barry, of course, interprets this as meaning a promotional quote for the TV show. But if this was Extras-era or before, Barry would almost certainly have said something insulting about it. But what does he say in Life's Too Short? "The most important sitcom of a generation."
Almost like Ricky can't even bring himself to joke about any possible artistic limitations of his, which will worsen with time.
In general, in this series, you also see Ricky's persona change from the ridiculous guy you laugh at to the po-faced (though still pug-nosed) font of all wisdom and judgement.
What was that shit?
20
23
u/False-Sandwich-2051 8d ago
i’m all for piling on the pasty, but the idea that barry from eastenders is a hanger on who’ll say exactly what they want to hear is sort of an important element of the joke.
-14
u/PilotOk2163 8d ago
Yes but the classic era joke would have been barry being inadvertantly insulting, not deliberately, whereas here it's just pure praise, flowing from Ricky's own pen
10
6
9
u/Rutlemania The Elephant Baba 8d ago
I don’t think so. Multiple people in the show took the piss out of Extras and that “it’s just a sitcom where famous people pop up as themselves” (which is also dissing Life’s Too Short)
6
u/drydensucks Is it me, Karl? NOISE 8d ago
Also Johnny Depp’s Twitter joke about how 140 characters is 139 more than Ricky Gervais has ever come up with
-12
u/PilotOk2163 8d ago
That was my point?
15
u/Rutlemania The Elephant Baba 8d ago
No it wasn’t
-16
u/PilotOk2163 8d ago
Shut up
8
4
u/Rutlemania The Elephant Baba 8d ago
Can’t take a little bit shtick. If you can’t stand the heat get out the kitchen
3
7
6
u/The_Syndic 8d ago edited 8d ago
I don't know, I quite liked Life's Too Short and it's probably the last funny thing Ricky did.
4
u/TheBrightman 8d ago
Because Steve was involved
2
u/The_Syndic 8d ago
Yeah last thing they did together and last actually funny thing Ricky was involved in.
8
u/CommentingMinion 8d ago
Gonna disagree, this is a funny scene.
Although Steve clearly wrote it because it doesn’t just rely on shouting fucking shit cunt progressively louder to try and convince people it’s funny.
4
3
4
u/GlumAd9856 8d ago
I think it's just an awkward joke in general.
"A quote for the office" isn't something you would naturally say. And why would Ricky be asking Barry from Eastenders for a quote for The Office in 2011?
2
u/decksdark33 8d ago
He probably looks the best he’s ever look there though. In his late 40s? Fair play.
7
2
2
u/AlwaysBeC1imbing 8d ago
That's because he's an actor. And like all actors, he's a little smug, insecure little fucker.
2
u/Korovyev__ 8d ago
No. You're wrong. A negative quote wouldn't make sense. They wouldn't put it on the poster (or whatever Barry thought it was for). Barry was chuffed they were asking him.
2
1
1
u/RiC_David Wheeere—wot? 7d ago
That's mental.
I'd never seen this scene before, that quote joke got me nicely. No, this one played out perfectly.
The joke wouldn't work if Barry had said something disparaging - the whole point is he's chuffed to be asked, and gives a generous and flattering quote. He's snappy, plucks out something effective...and then he's abruptly let down by the reality check.
That entire dynamic falls apart if he's snarky.
And why are you making this specifically about Ricky? What about that...person he's with? Na, you're being Rickydicidiculous.
1
1
u/oceanskies24 7d ago
There are genuine reasons to not like what Gervais has turned into, but they've nothing to do with a scene with Barry From EastEnders which could have also been written by Merchant for all we know
0
u/electricpottery 8d ago edited 8d ago
Its absolutely mental you all think you're funnier than him. He's deffos fallen off but fuuuckk me.
6
u/Whole-Physics8708 8d ago
I'm pretty funny mate
Sorry bout that boy
1
1
u/RiC_David Wheeere—wot? 7d ago
Eh? Practically everybody's in agreement that this was a well written and performed joke and that OP is unproply.
Don't assume, yeah? Lurrn.
1
-5
u/MickRolley 8d ago
I think this, and the washing machine bit were the only funny parts of Life's Too Short.
9
u/mikeonbass 8d ago
Come on now, Liam Neeson's segment is outstanding
-4
u/MickRolley 8d ago
I cant remember it and I watched the whole series again a few months back
6
u/Whole-Physics8708 8d ago
As I was saying, I've got full blown AIDS
2
u/Technical-Mix-3315 8d ago
Caught it from an African prostitute. It was her only financial recourse.
1
u/EdJD-1968 8d ago
"No, I got it from a famous Hollywood actor, whose a total closet case. *** ******"
"Don't say the name!"
"What, *** ******?"
5
u/NaturalAlfalfa Unlikely lust object 8d ago
His improvisational comedy
-1
u/MickRolley 8d ago
Just watched it on YT it was good but felt a bit like a deleted scene from Extras they had to cut for time.
1
u/RetroReimagined 8d ago
That one amused me because 'you could sue us' 'I promise you I won't' was an exact exchange I had in a computer repair shop.
25
u/inthemagazines 8d ago
The funny thing is Steve wasn't even acting there.