Any enemy of Stephen Fry is an enemy of mine.

I would've said
"Fuck you Fry, you bent-nosed mental patient"
Then Fry would have verbally slaughtered me and I would have eventually screeched "Touch me where it counts, you fucking faggot!" and promptly burst into tears.

*sigh*

*sigh*

What, lovingly or lustfully?

Always worth starting a thread with the forum new guys around. Guaranteed to fall apart in seconds. God, it's just like the web on here these days, isn't it?

Mmm. Will we miss it when it's gone? Not on current showing.

Actually, knowing how these things work, I bet that when SOTCAA turns up on some other host, the only people who join the forum are the sub-troll sweary surrealists. Oh what fun that'll be, watching them try to outdo each other.

Me, I'm back off down the pub to talk to real people. Anyone in a real conversation who talks to you like these guys is roundly punched and sent home.

*Yawn*

silly old sausage. He's got himself all worked up. I won't lower myself to replyi.....
Oh well, I suppose I'm a cunt as well then.
A punch? Oh dear.

Don't go Ruly, safety in numbers and all that...

To defenders of the RG egg... doesn't this confirm *every* accusation levelled at the Office? That essentially Gervaise *is* the loathsome homophobic wanker that we've always suspected him to be, and not some ironic comic messiah with a tasty line in cultural satire?

(And yes, i used to like him in the XFM days, in the same way that a Barnet fan might like Stan Collymore if he turned up at Underhill..)

Safety in numbers. How noble.
Yes, that and the fact that you enjoy what you consider to be national press confirmation of your own opinions of RG.
Now that there is a report of him calling a gay man gay you can feel happy in your opinion of his show. Is that the case?
I'm sorry I've been spouting nonsense in this thread when there was obviously such an intellectual and valid debate waiting to kick-off.

Apart from the obvious gulf in talent, what is the difference between Gervaise's rants, both on 11ocs and The Office, and those of various Chris Morris guises on Brasseye?

I am a fan of both men, and feel that Gervaise's satire, while gentler and aimed lower, uses similar tactics. This may make him unoriginal (no argument there), but he is funny, and I think puts more thought into what he does than he is given credit for.

The ease with which Tim was dragged into the "system" at the end of last night's office was great.

"Now that there is a report of him calling a gay man gay"

Where? I must have missed that.

Ultimately, I really don't care whether RG's work is rooted in prejudice or not - it won't change the fact that The Office is basically very, very weak. I only brought up the alleged poker incident because, as you so astutely observed, I do like to be proved right.

Is Fry not gay then? Is he confused?
So I'm assuming you already had the opinion that RG was a homophobic wanker before The Office? Could you see yourself ever liking the comedy of a homophobic wanker?
So many questions.

Ricky Gervaise didnt just say to Stephen Fry "Youre gay, you are."
He mustered all of his playground spite to deliver the bon mot "At least Im not gay", the wag.
Oh, and the original, groundbreaking satire that is "The Office"-when the resident office cheeky chappie is obviously turning into his boss?
I havent laughed so much since I read "ANIMAL FARM".


Ricky Gervais can play the guitar, you know.


And hes not gay.

You said - "Now that there is a report of him calling a gay man gay"
Gervaise *allegedly* said - "but at least I'm not gay."

Do you see?

I'm happy to admit the bloke's a wanker. I'm therefore laughing at him emphasising the worst parts of his own personality.
Coogan admitted that there was a lot of Alan Partridge in him, and I also found that character funny.
OK, stop. Enough of this charade. I'm a homophobiic wanker too and it does me good to see one of my own making it on TV.
There, I said it.

I'd have thought the level of satire on his "chat show" would have clued people up to the depths of Gervaise's wit.

Perfect post-pub TV, in that it was only funny if I had six pints inside me and couldn't form a cogent thought. Lots of playground swearing and neanderthal knob jokes, done with a tiny fraction of the we-know-this-is-stupid elan someone like Graham Norton brings to puerile tittering.

It was embarrassing to watch him drag on real, sentient beings (albeit C-List celeb ones) and talk AT them, not TO them, like the class joker snickering into his sleeve because he's just said "penis" in front of teacher. As if his guests couldn't see what he was doing. As if a grown adult wouldn't have heard rude words before.

The only satisfying thing about it was the refusal of many, otherwise indefensibly awful, guests to lower themselves to his level and act "horrified" by his smutty innuendoes.

Gervaise's act depends on the collusion of the audience that he is more intelligent than he's acting. That he's revelling in dumbing himself down to playground insults. That he's an adult behaving like a schoolboy.

However when cornered, by Stephen Fry managing to answer his inanities in the only way possible (by throwing them back casually in Gervaise's face) he reacts exactly as a 9 year old would. "Well at least I haven't got nits / my parents aren't poor / I'm not fat / I'm not a bender".

He's not playing the schoolboy, he is one.

BTW I haven't seen The Office yet, but bearing in mind that Gervaise's chat show was excruciating, and McKenzie Crook was partly responsible for one of the worst live comedy shows I've ever seen in my life, is there any reason I should give it a go?

Didn't see the Stephen Fry interview but really wish I had. I can imagine SF running rings around him (quite brave or stupid of RG to take him on really).

I did watch the final Office episode last night, the first viewing of the series for me and was disappointed, but not disgusted.

He was bloody awful on 11OCS and this was much better by comparison, but it seemed somewhat simplistic and predictable.
The fact that it was followed by NTNOCN which was much funnier despite being 20 years older had nothing to do with it.

theres more to the office than Gervaise. He portrays the character well but the writing doesn't really create any empathy which was what made similar arseholes like Basil Fawlty so appealing. He still manages to raise a lot of laughs in my living room.

It is well observed, that much is undeniable. And although patchy (some episodes were admittedly stinkers but some were fantastic), some of the characters, like the guy off bruiser and the Gareth character, are fab.

They're repeating "a Bit of Fry & Laurie" just now on UK Play (I think.. just got digital and it's all a bit of a blur) ; I remembered these as being kind of unremarkable at the time but now I'm struck by just how bloody good they are...
I'm not one to trot out all the standard huffs about declining-standards-in-comedy but it does make you wonder...

Its Paramount! 11.30pm after Spaced






P.S I don't work for Paramount btw. RG is a cunt, could he have played the great Oscar Wilde?

Paramount. Duh. So it is.

There goes MY sitcom commission.

>Today's Diary section in the Grauniad contains the following revelations...

The story from "The Guardian" was quoting an old (six months ago?) piece from Vicky Coren's "Observer" poker column. The other poker players included Al Alvarez and Martin Amis, and so I find it just about possible that Gervaise would have stuck out like a sore thumb and therefore been slightly intimidated. Possibly a defence he could employ. And being trapped in Coren's poker diary invites sympathy.

But I can't say I care for him either.

>>Today's Diary section in the Grauniad contains the following revelations...
>
>The story from "The Guardian" was quoting an old (six months ago?) piece from Vicky Coren's "Observer" poker column. The other poker players included Al Alvarez and Martin Amis, and so I find it just about possible that Gervaise would have stuck out like a sore thumb and therefore been slightly intimidated. Possibly a defence he could employ. And being trapped in Coren's poker diary invites sympathy.
>
>But I can't say I care for him either.

I saw the celeb edition of Late Night Poker, RG went out first, no looking too pleased. ha ha. SF stayed in longer, but the only proper celeb to stay the distance was Amis.

I sawthe show too, and remember Gervais in it only because he was so unmemorable.

>I sawthe show too, and remember Gervais in it only because he was so unmemorable.

I didn't see the show, but only read the article. I think the Gervaise "At least I'm not gay" incident happened in a poker game that was going on amongst the eliminated parties, i.e not on camera. I can't help but feel sympathetic towards someone stuck in the company of media types who all know each other, but particularly stuck with Vicky Coren *who is writing an article that will feature you unfavourably because you know no-one*. And the personable Stephen Fry.

But, I still don't care much for Gervaise.

Anthony Holden beat Al Alvarez in the celebrity game by the way.

Was that the celebrity edition of Late NIght Poker which featured Patrick 'I want to be David Mamet' Marber?

>Was that the celebrity edition of Late NIght Poker which featured Patrick 'I want to be David Mamet' Marber?

I believe so, yes.

Awww, does this mean there won't be a new series? I was really looking forward to that...

GAY PEOPLE HAVE CANCER-EVERYONE KNOWS THAT.

Well, yes. It's horrible how those who like The Office cling to the one good thing in a particular episode.

Three of them ended with them all being drunk, didn't they? Brilliant. I bet Simon Nye wishes he'd thought of that.

Anyway. To somebody about ninety posts ago, when Morris makes his politically incorrect statements, it's because in his guise it's not what you'd expect. gervais, I suspect, makes them because he thinks they're funny in themselves.