you like kevin bridges? i thought only scottish people would really get him.
Chris Rock's Tambourine is very good. The guy's still funny as hell.
I don't get this expectation of comedians to "punch upwards, not downwards". feck off, any one can get joked on. Just make it funny.
I watched the first 26 minutes. I liked what I saw. It's not classic Gervais, but I didn't feel he was forcing his jokes on the audience (or me).
I watched the first 26 minutes. I liked what I saw. It's not classic Gervais, but I didn't feel he was forcing his jokes on the audience (or me).
It was entertaining but there were some shit jokes in there, especially that Caitlyn Jenner is a woman so she must be a bad driver joke. That was dreadful tbh.
6.5/10.
6.5/10.
You’ve missed the point of that joke completely, that’s why he explained it so much
I didn't. It was drawn out crap, you're not clever for getting it.
You're trying to pretend you knew how I perceived a joke. I get the point he was making I just didn't find it funny and thought it was a dreadful joke. I framed it as above in my initial post for brevity. Hope you understand now.
this is riveting.
Yeah I like the down to earth comedians it seems. People rave about Kevin hart, but I've just never found him funny.
Yeah I think it really helps when the comedian is from your own lands. Kevin bridges is amazing to me because his jokes are things that I can relate to so much, we are the same age and lived 20 minutes apart. Frankie Boyle a fave of mine too for similar reasons.
Frankie I like until he goes past the point of jokes and is just being shocking for the sake of it
Yeah but it is something offensive in most social circles and its not even funny. I don't understand how something is funny just because of how offensive it is.
That's the set up, yeah. But what's the joke? There's writing to establish the topic (which is the very least you'd expect from a conversational stand up) but then very little connection to the actual joke/payoff/funny bit, which tends to just be him laughing at the idea of his baby dying, or Caitlin Jenner having a big dick (2018!!)... It's pub conversation stuff. Chat show patter at best.
For an example of what he wants to do, look at an Anthony Jeselnik set. He's not only way more offensive (trans jokes, dead baby jokes, all the hits!) but he's offensive in a structured, written way, that allows him to get laughs from the jokes as opposed to the mere concepts.
Take this clip. It's not the greatest example (there aren't a lot of clips of him online, unfortunately, but his special is on Netflix if you fancy it) but he does two things in it that Gervais tries to do in Humanity. 1. Tell a dead baby joke, and 2. Explain why it's funny.
It may not be the best gag, but it's a gag. With a set up and a payoff. And the explanation is an amusing, ironic continuation, rather than a faux ironic excuse to actually explain the joke.
Look, I don't want it to seem like I'm just shitting on Gervais for the hipster lolz. I genuinely think his early work is GOAT level. I've got the scripts to both The Office & Extras on my desk.... But his stand up has always been a bit ropey (he was already famous when he started, meaning he's never really had to hone a set - less and less so as they've gone on ) and this one is just the final proof of his irrelevance. Talking about Caitlin Jenner and the Golden Globes three years out of date, and padding the rest with stuff he's already covered in Podcasts and Interviews. There's a reason he's so obsessed with being "offensive". It's 'cos there's nothing else topical or relevant about his schtick anymore.
For an even longer rant... See this pretty spot on (IMO) article.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/what-happened-to-ricky-gervais-james
If he continues on this track, I can see him becoming a cranky right wing Bernard Manning type in a decades time. The irony being he's rapidly attracting the kind of unironic Al Murray crowd he obviously considers himself so superior to.
The thing that gets me about Ricky Gervais is he mocks people for being offended yet when it comes to things he believes in - like animal rights - he himself takes it seriously and never jokes about it. As much as I enjoy dark humour, people will be offended by rape, cancer and racist jokes, especially those directly affected by it.
He’s also prone to blocking even timid critics, or quoting them in an effort to get his millions of followers to harass them.
Neither of which are particularly becoming of an equal opportunities offender, or a 56 year old man.
Neither of which are particularly becoming of an equal opportunities offender, or a 56 year old man.
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edit: ffs already posted
He's not a stand-up. He's like one of those Apprentice stars that get a column for a few months after the show airs or a celebrity who gets a deal to write a series of books. It isn't something he's any particular talent for but he's famous from doing something else so he gets to use that as a vehicle. Being a stand-up and being able to deliver laughs on stage and hold a live audience in the palm of your hand is a completely different discipline to comedy acting and very few ever make the successful transition.
Now seen all of his stand-up shows and whilst not absolutely horrible, all are massively underwhelming. He should give up trying to be an on-stage, stand-up comic because that isn't where his talent lies at all.
Now seen all of his stand-up shows and whilst not absolutely horrible, all are massively underwhelming. He should give up trying to be an on-stage, stand-up comic because that isn't where his talent lies at all.
When he makes himself the target /subject of his jokes he is excellent.
When he picks an external target he is weak and unfunny.
The jenner /transexual stuff is just peurile and boring. He's like a six year old boy who has just discovered about "willies". It is a succession of weak jokes to make an oversimplified point.
The stuff on atheism is better but his best material was about his mothers funeral. Here he had good jokes making a good point but too often it's a weak joke to make a good point (depending on your views) or a weak joke and a weak point when discussing transexuality.
Not worth waiting 8 years for!
When he picks an external target he is weak and unfunny.
The jenner /transexual stuff is just peurile and boring. He's like a six year old boy who has just discovered about "willies". It is a succession of weak jokes to make an oversimplified point.
The stuff on atheism is better but his best material was about his mothers funeral. Here he had good jokes making a good point but too often it's a weak joke to make a good point (depending on your views) or a weak joke and a weak point when discussing transexuality.
Not worth waiting 8 years for!
I may check it out, although I've never really been a fan of his particular "awkwardness and silence" style. Kevin Bridges has been mentioned, and I'm not a fan. Being a Glaswegian, I laugh at some of his stuff, but very quickly it becomes clear that he's not doing a real set, just "I'm Scottish, and here are things that have happened in Scotland". When up here he relies on common shared Scottish knowledge, it's all "Remember when yer da would say this, then yer maw wid come in and dae that?". Been watching mostly American stand up recently, a LOT of it is heavy political and race stuff. British guys work better, purely IMO, when they stick to the utter mundane like getting lost in Tesco or getting haircuts and other bland shit.
Been watching mostly American stand up recently, a LOT of it is heavy political and race stuff. British guys work better, purely IMO, when they stick to the utter mundane like getting lost in Tesco or getting haircuts and other bland shit. Just watched Humanity. That was a waste of 90 mins. Absolute cat piss, from start to finish. Where were the jokes? At best he seemed to work towards some sort of flimsy premise and then just fall back on something as weak as kicking a dead baby. Basic physical comedy.
If that was the stuff that made it in, what the feck did he cut? If anyone is in any doubt about watching this; don’t. It’s pointless. There are almost no jokes, no material of any sort of depth or message and it’s basically like watching every second rate Twitter comic point out all the times they’ve done a good tweet. All while boasting about flying on private planes.
If that was the stuff that made it in, what the feck did he cut? If anyone is in any doubt about watching this; don’t. It’s pointless. There are almost no jokes, no material of any sort of depth or message and it’s basically like watching every second rate Twitter comic point out all the times they’ve done a good tweet. All while boasting about flying on private planes.
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