Extras: Good. Gervais: Shmuck 'Extras' was pretty funny & Cheggers is the new Pacino. But.

I'm bored as hell with Gervais. Guess what? Here's why, y'all.

.1. Patronising attitude towards Cheggers / Les Dennis. Like, yeah, you've saved 'em, Gervais. Well done. Saved 'em from degrading themselves with light entertainment and making lots of people happy on popular shows. I mean, shit, these cats were nobody without you, huh? And now look at 'em! On a high-brow, artistically accomplished auteur vehicle prime time show beloved of critics around the world! They should be kissing your feet in thanks, right? Jeez.

.2. Bile directed at 'broad' comedy. Shit, did you see last night's show? That bit with Jensen kissing Orlando Bloom in front of her annoying friend (herself one of the most caricature-ish, unrealistic Gervais creations yet)? The Jensen /annoying friend bit with the 'hilarious misunderstanding' about which stage hand guy fancied her? If this ain't broad I don't know what it is. When the ugly stage hand guy turned round there shoulda been a trumpet parp.
Meeoo-wah! I mean, Gervais can mumble all he wants about how Extras is intentionally an exercise in broad-er comedy than The Office, but the truth is that he sweats hate for traditional sit-com techniques from every pore, and scenes like these can at the very least be decribed as Gervais having his cake & etaing it too.

.3. Bile directed at The BBC. Inexplicable. The BBC made Gervais an international star. Allowed him to do pretty much whatever the hell he wanted. And he paints the Head Of Comedy as some sorta Hitler-esque evil. Where is this anger coming from? Where does he get the nerve? I mean, just be grateful you didn't have to go through the sorta crap your character here has to. It must be nice being an auteur, huh? Enjoy it! Lighten up! You ain't got nothin' to be mad about!

.4. Bile directed at The Public. AKA: The Ugliest Glimpse Of Gervais' Soul We've Had So Far. The scene with the audience dressed in sit-com catchphrase T-shirts, (nice device, Gervais, real subtle) laughing unthinkingly like the dumbasses they are at Gervais' character's catchphrase. YEAH! These people are SCUM, right, Gervais? Chavvy automatons grovelling in the swill of light entertainment, right? You can feed 'em any old shit and they'll just keep on' eatin', right? These people don't DESERVE Extras and The Office do they? Holy crap. It's one thing to dump on the BBC and Cheggers. It's another to dump on us. Unbelievable snobbery, frightening loathing of the public. (You could argue of course that the people really dumping on the public are the people putting out low-brow Dinnerladies-type garbage he pastiches, but Gervais is kidding himself if he thinks his attitude is any better.)

.5. Obscene arrogent self-indulgence. If I wanted to watch 30 minutes of Gervais bitching and whining about sit-comology, I'd borrow a tape of that Gervais / Larry David Self Congratulatory Back Slapping Smug-In from last year. I mean, seriously. We're all perfectly aware of Gervais' opinion of mainstream gentle comedy. We don't need him to write an entire show about it. This idea that there is BAD comedy & GOOD comedy is just pure jive.

Fundementally I enjoyed Extras, I laughed a couple of times, I thought Cheggers and Barry and Orlando were excellent, and I really like Jensen. But there was much here I found unforgivably self-regarding, bitter and wromg-headed.

Also check out Anna Wait's blog for a wider overview of the whole evening's comedy viewing.

Labels: Television

  ¶ 10:09 AM