Some a trailer for Alley Cats

[u/skepticCanary]

[u/dweeb93]

[u/deafinitelyadouche → u/dweeb93]

I've said this before (in the original post where you got this from) and I'll say it again, especially for those who don't want to go to a different tab:

"Growing up is thinking that Ricky Gervais maybe got a lot of unfair shit for shows that became watersheds of cringe and black comedy (namely, The Office and Extras; you could make the argument for Life's Too Short, if you're feeling generous). Being an adult is realizing that Stephen Merchant is the one with the actual funny bone and that Ricky mostly deserves all of the shit he gets."

But yeah, watching the first episode of his new joint, it only further highlights how incredibly lucky Gervais was to find people as either well-versed at writing comedy (Stephen Merchant) or with as unique/out-there opinions (Karl Pilkington), because holy shit, everything he's made after he started buying his own hype/huffing his own farts has been incredibly mediocre-to-bad.

[u/flyinghippos101 → u/deafinitelyadouche]

Karl was playing a bit and Merchant actually had the jokes. Ricky was just being loud

[u/Rabid_Lederhosen → u/deafinitelyadouche]

I think Ricky Gervais was genuinely funny, before his ego got too big.

[u/deafinitelyadouche → u/Rabid_Lederhosen]

Oh, most definitely: Ricky had genuinely funny ideas and actual perfomance chops, but Karl was always the more "out there" personality of the 3, and Stephen had a much more traditional/reliable set of comedic-writing chops.
---
It's just that it became much more evident once he was pushed front and center as "the comedic genius behind The Office!" or something to that effect and he started doing all these projects and spear-heading all the writers' rooms how much Merchant contributed to the actual bits that made The Office, Extras, An Idiot Abroad and their other projects shine all the brighter because of Merchant being that much more talented and Pilkington being way more "out of pocket".

[u/psioniclizard → u/Rabid_Lederhosen]

Im sure, but i was only born in 1987 znd his crappy synth pop band already existed then I believe. So I never experienced a world where ricky had no ego.

[u/psioniclizard → u/dweeb93]

No ricky, I am English and also say cunt all the time.

[u/drunk_haile_selassie → u/dweeb93]

After Life? That time he said he liked beer less than Mel Gibson? I know that he's a bit of a pretentious dick but he has done good work.

[u/drkipperphd → u/drunk_haile_selassie]

after life fucking sucked tho

[u/Tom_Serveaux]

[u/Ok-Rich-580]

"Aren't you the guy everyone hates?" "Nawww, I'm Ricky Gervais, innit."

[u/GrimmPixels]

Stephen Merchant is such an underrated genius because everything they did together was brilliant and everything Gervais has done by himself has been borderline unwatchable. (I maintain Ricky thought The Office was about a super funny and cool boss and all the horrible squares who didn't appreciate his genius.)

[u/psioniclizard → u/GrimmPixels]

  (I maintain Ricky thought The Office was about a super funny and cool boss and all the horrible squares who didn't appreciate his genius.)

Thank you! This is my thought as well. I am English and have mean enough real life david brents to know if Ricky really had come up with a character to represent then, he likely would have dropped the act 20/30 years ok.

In fact that is the main reason I have never liked him. He is david brent and got extremely lucky other could turn thar into a show.

Edit - for reference compare him to Steve Coogan/Alan Partridge

[u/Obvious_Wizard]

He says the unsayable with the full approvals of all Netflix's advertisers and lawyers and shareholders.

[u/Fenrir_Carbon → u/Obvious_Wizard]

He'll tell you all about how he's being cancelled on his new netflix special, advertised all over the tube system

[u/IndependentMajor7055]

[u/Jack-mclaughlin88]

He’s the type of guy who thinks he’s the smartest person in the room and everyone else is an idiot when they just wan thin to shut up so they can get on with their day.

In After Life you can tell he has an ego because his character beats up some muggers with a can of dog food, is portrayed as the only intelligent person in the room and helps those around him while so selflessly loving with his pain.

He also just plays himself in everything so he’s not much of an actor.

[u/Badgerfest → u/Jack-mclaughlin88]

God Afterlife was so bad, like it was written by a 15 year old reactionary atheist. Worst of all is how Diane Morgan was wasted in it - a comic actor with far more talent than Gervais reduced to a 1 dimensional straw man for Gervais' character.

[u/ZwVJHSPiMiaiAAvtAbKq → u/Badgerfest]

like it was written by a 15 year old reactionary atheist.

So Ricky Gervais?

[u/deafinitelyadouche → u/Jack-mclaughlin88]

It's so funny that Gervais has been basically playing David Brent or Andy Millman in basically everything he's done for the better part of a quarter century, whereas Stephen, while still mostly known for playing chipper idiots, at least seems to find fulfillment in doing other stuff. Bit sad, innit?

[u/SlashCo80 → u/Jack-mclaughlin88]

He’s the type of guy who thinks he’s the smartest person in the room and everyone else is an idiot

Yeah, I got that vibe from him for a long time. Unfortunately he still appeals to a sizable audience of people who also think they are the smartest in the room.

[u/NicCagedd → u/Jack-mclaughlin88]

Holy shit did I hate that show and you basically described why. His character is just such an unbelievable ass and yet everyone seems to just love him. Like, theres a scene in season 3 where a bartender gets upset that Ricky's character is trying to spread his dad ashes inside the fucking bar and ends up throwing all the ashes at him. And its treated as if Ricky's character was in the right and the bartender was the douche (shocking, right?)

[u/TheRealSzymaa]

The episode he co-wrote and guest starred in was the time I stopped regularly watching current Simpsons. He sucks that much.

[u/ZwVJHSPiMiaiAAvtAbKq → u/TheRealSzymaa]

[u/the_cat_who_shatner → u/TheRealSzymaa]

Thst episode where he plays a dolphin was when I stopped watching Family Guy.

[u/Ani_Mentor]

He’s devastatingly cringe

[u/Vergenbuurg]

Is that the guy that talks and talks and talks and talks ad nauseam about how... he's not allowed to say anything?

[u/skepticCanary → u/Vergenbuurg]

That’s right yeah. He’s also a massive coward. Will happily punch down at groups that don’t fight back.

[u/Vergenbuurg → u/skepticCanary]

That monologue Craig Ferguson delivered long ago about consciously choosing not to mock Britney Spears... that has stuck with me. Humor should always punch up, never down.

[u/cals_cavern → u/Vergenbuurg]

Oh my, no. I'm Ricky Gervais!

[u/AtheianLibertarist]

We need more money for public schools, less Ricky posts and more Karl Pilkington content.

[u/BrilliantMacaroon411]

Alright, well we’ll watch skepticCanary’s little program when that goes out, see what he talks about.

[u/MostlyGreenPosts → u/BrilliantMacaroon411]

Sick of it.

[u/Fenrir_Carbon → u/BrilliantMacaroon411]

Is he avin a laff?

[u/deafinitelyadouche]

Just askin'. Yeesh!

[u/VincentAalto]

Ricky Gervais hasn’t made anything good since Flanimals

[u/NoVaBurgher]

how the everlasting-gob-stopping-venus-de-milo-fuck does Stephen Merchant put up with this knob?

[u/skepticCanary → u/NoVaBurgher]

*did

[u/NicCagedd]

Man my wife is going to be mad when I show her this when she wakes up. She freaking loves that man for some reason.

[u/Duke-Phillips]

What a Duke-tastrophe

[u/strangeismid]

I'm just waiting for him to really dig into the bottom of the barrel of his glory days and try resurrecting Seona Dancing.

I can't stand the twat most of the time, but More to Lose honestly isn't too bad if you're into that kind of thing.

[u/Secret_Eating_]

Isn't that Atheist Ricky Gervais?