Why Are You Laughing? - Karl Pilkington

Worlds collide as the history-of-comedy podcast "Why Are You Laughing?" examines the career of Karl Pilkington.

This is one where I can say "I lived it." I was listening to the XFM broadcasts basically on a loop from around 2003 to around 2013. I was there when they reunited for the BBC, did the podcast, made the HBO show, and so on. I mention this by way of reminiscing, rather than some form of bragging. I recommended Ricky, Steve and Karl to so many people and only one person really got it. But that was a big hit.

There's a project underway that's unearthing "new" XFM material and remastering the archives. I've lost track of it though. For whatever reason, the clip I shared of the new material has been deleted. But if you're looking to track down that project, you can start here.

Ricky Gervais - Finding Leo

 

Gotta love the digital cameras of the early 2000s.

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant try to contact Leonardo DiCaprio to do a guest role on their HBO Show "Extras." The audio's a little rough and Ricky's had a few cocktails. I'd actually forgotten all about this - an absolute classic.

"New" XFM Audio Uncovered

 

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I've listened to The Ricky Gervais show on XFM so many times, I pretty much have it memorized. But now someone's gone back and re-visited the original tapes(?) and uncovered previously deleted audio.

It's mostly stuff like throwing to commercial, but let's face it, how often are you going to get new XFM material?

Stephen Merchant on Drunk History

The first episode of "Drunk History" aired last night and featured a cameo by Stephen Merchant.

In "Drunk History", various regular people get drunk and then tell the story of a particular historical event. Then, actors dramatize the event the way the drunk person told it.

In addition to Steve Merchant as Lincoln, the first episode features Dave Grohl, Jack Black, Fred Willard, Adam Scott, Will Forte and Bob Odenkirk.

The episode can be watched online here. "Drunk History" airs Tuesday nights on Comedy Central.

Ricky Gervais Show Season 2 Premieres; Is Free; Is On My Blog

The second season of the Ricky Gervais show premiered today. And not only that, it's viewable from hbo.com. And not only that, it's free.

Ricky Gervais Show 2-01:

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Ep. 14: Clive Warren - Full Episode

And not only that, it's the show where Karl pitches his idea for a new movie starring Clive Warren and Rebecca De Mornay. It's one of the maddest ideas for a movie ever but I kind of get the suspicion that it'll be made some day. After all, Karl pitched the idea that humans should age backwards and they made "Benjamin Button".

I'm not sure of the business model - no commercials, available for free - but I'll take it. Perhaps this is only for the season premiere.

WEETABIX!

Monkey News

As has been covered in the past, big fan of Ricky, Steve and Karl.... Radio show, podcast, TV shows, all the rest of it.

For the uninitiated, the "Monkey News" feature is always real, it's always factual, it's as hard-hitting and solid as the normal news. It's just with monkeys. So without further ado... OOOH, CHIMPANZEE THAT! MONKEY NEWS!

Historical Note: The "Monkey News" story that serves as the source material for this fan animation comes from the early days of "Monkey News". The monkey that drove to Spain would be a high water mark (low water mark) against which many "Monkey News" stories would be judged.

Lay The Plaque Down

When I first heard that Stephen Merchant was doing a film with The Rock called "Tooth Fairy", and that the title wasn't just a poetic flourish or even a metaphor - the Rock actually plays the Tooth Fairy - I thought, "WTF?". But now, after having a few months to think about it, I think, "WTF?".

As you may or may not know, Steve Merchant is the co-creator, co-writer, co-director of "The Office" and "Extras" together with Ricky Gervais and also co-presenter of the (amazing) Ricky Gervais Show radio programme (British spelling!) and (inconsistent) Ricky Gervais Podcasts. He's also a 6-foot-7 goggle-eyed, bespectacled bean pole.

The first trailer was just released and it is a Disney movie. There's no getting around that. And it'll probably be very average. However, I will have to see it, being such a huge Merchant fan. Here it is:

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Notice that in the trailer he doesn't get any billing or say a single line. Classic.

"The Invention of Lying" starring Merchant's writing partner Ricky Gervais opens today as well. From what I've seen, I'm not holding out much hope that that's going to be great either but, again, I'll at least see it.