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 BBC2 Thursdays 9pm
Review by Adam Bryson
I’ve never been a big fan of Ricky Gervais, and that’s putting it
nicely. I was probably one of the few people who was bored stupid by The
Office, and from what I’ve seen, he’s quite possibly the worst, most
unfunny stand-up comedian in the world (and this is a world, remember,
where Lenny Henry exists).
Yet, given that there was nowt better on the telly and that Episode 1 of
the second series of his new show, Extras, was about the best Teleport
Replay on our cable box had to offer, I decided to give it a shot.
And I’m glad I did.
From the opening moments, I was laughing out loud as Orlando Bloom sent
himself up brilliantly, proclaiming that women would still flock to him
if he were sans his Hollywood star status.
From there, things only got better.
The story revolves around Andy Millman (Gervais), as he prepares to
debut his new hit sitcom whilst keeping his integrity and artistic
credibility in tact.
To be honest, there’s not much funny about that, Ricky is still rubbish.
There’s a joke early on in the show that even (former Eastender) Shaun
‘Barry’ Williamson would be funnier than Gervais, and as the show goes
on, it turns out that this is no joke.
“The thing with ‘Barry’,” proclaims Gervais’ less-known partner-in-crime
Stephen Merchant (even he is funnier than his more popular cohort) “Is
that people always laugh at him, rather than with him.”
And whether it’s with him or at him, you can pretty much guarantee that
‘Barry’ will make you laugh here, as he potters around doing pretty much
nothing, yet doing it hilariously.
The same goes for that mad bloke who runs around like a lunatic on GMTV,
Keith Chegwin. Cheggers is hysterical as he tries his hand at acting to
little success, smiling when announcing ‘I just buried my sister this
morning’, and being unable to distinguish between the script and real
life.
The first episode of Extra’s second series was brilliant, funny and
entertaining, and I’m already looking forward to watching the next one.
And all this despite the fact that, even though he may have wrote the
script, as its star, Ricky Gervais is outshone by Keith Chegwin and yes,
even ‘Barry’.
Recommended Links:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo/programmes/?id=extras – Extras site at the
BBC (contains video clips and more)
http://www.rickygervais.com/extras.php - Extras info at Ricky Gervais’
official website.
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