I was sick all week, so I ended up watching a lot of netflix. Derek is a very good show. I don't know how much of that has to do w/ Gervais...I have a suspicion it'd be better without him.

I have only seen the Office and Extras. Extras was maybe a little lesser because of the ridiculous spectacle that goes with a show about rich celebrities acting like pricks, which is a boring topic (see Curb). But The Office more often than not comes off as a straight documentary of how regular people behave. I don't know how much credit to give Gervais vs. Stephen Merchant or someone else for this, but they captured their subject in a way that I've never seen anywhere else.Gervais seems alternately uncomfortable and priggish every time I see him speak as himself.

curry pervert wrote:andyman wrote:The little I've seen of his standup was awful. He just squealed in a high-pitched voice about arbitrary, boring "observations" while gurning, as though these things were masterpieces of the absurd. It was perpelexing and slighly infuriating to see him presented as an equal amongst Louis CK, Seinfeld, Chris Rock. WTF. Truly.I guess Hollywood dissolves boundaries, even when they're merited.As was pointed out earlier in the thread, he's not a stand-up. At least, he had never done any stand-up until after he became famous for The Office etc.Great. My opinion still stands that he sucks at it and shouldn't have been presented alongside those other standups.

andyman wrote:The little I've seen of his standup was awful. He just squealed in a high-pitched voice about arbitrary, boring "observations" while gurning, as though these things were masterpieces of the absurd. It was perpelexing and slighly infuriating to see him presented as an equal amongst Louis CK, Seinfeld, Chris Rock. WTF. Truly.I guess Hollywood dissolves boundaries, even when they're merited.As was pointed out earlier in the thread, he's not a stand-up. At least, he had never done any stand-up until after he became famous for The Office etc.

chris jury wrote:I was sick all week, so I ended up watching a lot of netflix. Derek is a very good show. I don't know how much of that has to do w/ Gervais...I have a suspicion it'd be better without him.But he created it, written it and directed it. How would it be better without him?

Cactus wrote:chris jury wrote:I was sick all week, so I ended up watching a lot of netflix. Derek is a very good show. I don't know how much of that has to do w/ Gervais...I have a suspicion it'd be better without him.But he created it, written it and directed it. How would it be better without him?Without him acting in it. He does fine, but the other folks on the cast are kinda what make the show.

andyman wrote:curry pervert wrote:andyman wrote:The little I've seen of his standup was awful. He just squealed in a high-pitched voice about arbitrary, boring "observations" while gurning, as though these things were masterpieces of the absurd. It was perpelexing and slighly infuriating to see him presented as an equal amongst Louis CK, Seinfeld, Chris Rock. WTF. Truly.I guess Hollywood dissolves boundaries, even when they're merited.As was pointed out earlier in the thread, he's not a stand-up. At least, he had never done any stand-up until after he became famous for The Office etc.Great. My opinion still stands that he sucks at it and shouldn't have been presented alongside those other standups.Haha, yeah I wasn't disagreeing with you. Had he tried to 'make it' based on his stand up alone, there's a good chance we would never had heard of him.

Great in the Office but everything else I have seen him do (movies,talk shows, awards) tells me he wasn't acting that much playing David Brent. That's who he is.

[broken youtube link]Martin Short is an animal.Edit: fucking broken youtube link. Jiminy Glick was jovially pounding Gervais into dust

Afterlife is great so far. Really enjoying it.