Been a while since my last upload! Long comment ahead, if you care. I've just been very busy, and as I do this entirely as a hobby, I wasn't going to force myself to make videos if I couldn't give them my full attention. I would rather not just make and upload things for the sake of it, and thus I decided to simply take a break. I have no intentions of becoming a "youtuber" (ugh), and treating making comedy analysis as some game against a nebulous algorithm. Frankly, I hate that shit. If that means long stretches of nothing released, then so be it. I hope you understand. Thank you to the people that contacted me via twitter and email over the past few months with nice messages and to ask if I was ok, or would be returning at some point. I really appreciate that you took the time out of your day to do that! It meant a lot. I probably should’ve been more open about taking a break. Oh well. On that front, I have no plans to stop making videos on comedy. However, I, again, will not be forcing anything, or rushing to upload for the sake of it. I did also kind of burn myself out by talking about Peep Show for so long (and so often). I think I'll talk about the show again, but in a much more relaxed way. My videos are normally very tightly scripted, and I spend a stupid amount of time writing/researching/etc, to the point that I feel like I've said pretty much all I can say about the show in my usual formats. People have asked me many times over the years to do more "informal" content (eg. tier lists, short top 5 videos etc), which I've always strayed away from, but maybe that would work? I don't know. I also will most likely not finish my top 10 episodes series, because, frankly, I don't care to. I was not enjoying making it. I have a couple more Once-Over videos in various stages of done-ness, and would also possibly like to make just some... videos, about comedy. Not as part of some series, not going super in-depth and combing over minutiae, merely just briefly talking about a topic. I think writing a 5 minute video here and there is a much more sustainable way to tackle comedy discussion for me at this current moment in time. But we'll see. I can't promise anything, and to be honest, I wouldn't want to either. Do not expect any consistency from me for the foreseeable future, but rather just potentially something every now and then. I think now more than ever, this channel shall be a creative outlet for myself to talk about the good and the bad from the world of comedy. Cheers.
Thanks for another great video! Im a huge Britcom fan(Im British) and find your takes and opinions really interesting and your videos really enjoyable to watch. Im glad you arent just churning out "content", i think the quality and "feel" of the videos would change dramatically and I would rather wait for a video that was lovingly made than watch a tier list that was thrown together for the sake of putting something out. Keep up the great work man!
Glad to see another video from you, mate. Hoping to cover some more sitcom stuff on my own channel in future and you're a bit of an inspiration in that regard.
I’ll forever be coming back to this channel, peep show was a comfort show for me and andrews channel was like an add on to it. I used to love stumbling through my front door stoned to the gills ready to watch either peep show or andrews videos, cheers mate for this gem of a channel. Please never delete it
Extras is a last hurrah for Gervais. A very good show with some truly exceptional gags (the Bowie cameo, the fizzy Water flirt and Barry from Eastenders showing his range are particular highlights for me) but, looking back, you can start to see the cracks in Gervais's formula. Andy Millman goes through the same exact arc in the end of every season and in the christmas Special, just like what happens in After Life. The difference já that the rest of the show is so good that the flaws are minor. Thanks for the retrospective! Glad to have you back
I agree. Personally I consider Andy's Big Brother speech, while well-fitting within Extras, to be the turning point. It's basically Ricky talking as much as it is Andy talking, and him just using his characters as a blatant literal mouthpiece to just give his opinions on whatever he's thinking at the time (often in incredibly unfunny and dull ways) would become a staple of his work.
@@axw There's another moment in Extras, in the Kate Winslet episode I think, where he is asked whether he believes in God, and he does a little 'no I'm an atheist I believe in science' bit. Holy shit it's so cringe. It's basically just Ricky copy-and-pasting a bit of his standup into the episode.
@@axw True. Alan Partridge is pretty much the opposite of everything Steve Coogan stands for in real life so the satire/commentary feels more funny than having Ricky's 'characters' just parroting his real life view points.
I love Extras. Darren Lamb is probably my favourite comedy character ever (sorry Super Hans). What also helps is the bloopers for the show are absolutely hilarious too.
In terms of big laughs, I seriously think that Patrick Stewarts' scene is the funniest thing I ever saw in a TV show, both at the time and rewatching it later.
One of my favourite aspects of Extras is that despite being able to pull in stars like Ben Stiller for the first episode, they still had incredibly British C list celebrities on like Les Dennis and Keith Chegwin who had zero international standing. I always thought that showed a great level of confidence and showed that, at least then, Ricky hadn't totally sold out
Steve as the incompetent agent is so funny, every scene is hilarious, pure farce. I really enjoyed extras at the time, it hasn't held up as well as the office but it's still great.
I was thinking the other day I haven't seen a video from you for a while. Glad you're back. My brother and uncle really liked Extras when it first came out, my uni housemates weren't so keen. Their first episode was the one with Daniel Radcliffe. Please do a video on Derry Girls.
I’ve left a comment a few times on the channel just appreciating what you do to be completely honest. Hope everything’s all good and you make a return soon, it’s been way too long since I last smoke a j and tucked into a new Andrew upload. :)
This videos are honestly so good, bang on the money with most of your points. Can't wait for the next one. Would be keen to see a once over done on the thick of it and fleabag. Keep up the great work?
The Welsh bloke lives rent free in my head. Found the joker of the pack. Chat and a laugh, laugh and a chat, then some kids came by his shop, threw acid in his eyes, blinded him. Never laughed again.
I feel like Life’s Too Short was such an obvious retread of Extras that it kind of cheapened the whole thing, but it’s still better than anything post-Merchant.
I thought the same thing about extras and Gervais's career. There's a scene where Andy's more successful ex-extra and now actor "friend" and his "cool" agent tell him that he can't be a successful and respected actor, he can only be a comedy actor using catch-phrases and silly costumes. This echoes Gervais's acting career exactly, but I'm not sure if he meant it that way.
i started watching this show thinking it would be about extras and it was. couple of extras just 'avin a laugh and then boom full on existential crisis of andy
great video, I 100% agree that some of the episodes are just written around a type of character rather than someone specially and that makes what you can actually do with sed celebrity less versatile... you can see evidence of this in that "Ricky Gervais finding Leo" video, Ricky and Steve go through talking about getting Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt etc.. they seemingly settle on Orlando Bloom
Excellent review, some fantastic points throughtout. I don't agree with your point on the relationship between Maggie and Andy though, I actually think the two characters play off very well throughout the two series (with the exception of the 'Maggie growing-up' thing), and contribute a lot to the comedy, but also messaging of the show. Its quite sweet seeing the two hold a platonic relationship, which plays heavily into the development of Andy being a geniune and kind person; which, is very important considering the character spends alot of time venting and being negative towards the industry he works in. This kind of character meta is also seen in David Brent; with a balance between him missing social ques and being rude, with periods and scenes of him being vulnerable; like the sacking. My point is, Gervais and Merchant are masters of creating 'real' funny characters; which they do this (in-part) with building characters' around a close relationship with a geniune and kind person because it humanises the 'funny' character - building the humour and social complexity of the 'funny' situations they fall into (and of course, their response to them). I also disagree with your points on Maggie being 'wacky' and annoying sometimes; I think it works well to have characters sometimee do very obvisouly stupid things - which I think just brings the viewer back to conscious their watching a comedy; and that silly things happen. I think it would play off as slightly pretentious and sly and these 'stupid' moments did'nt happen. Not sure, just some off-the-bat thoughts on a show which I think is hugely hugely underrated.
Ashley Jensen is good, but I don't know why they cast a clearly attractive actress to play a character who's meant to be plain & dowdy, nor why the writers chose to give a thirtysomething character the elderly name Maggie.
I think other than the Clive Owen bit [which is exaggerated so Maggie quits being an extra] she is implied to be decently attractive given she doesn't find it hard to get dates and she pull off the 'BAFTA dress' very well. It's more her lack of social skills and tact [apparently she was supposed to be a female version of Karl Pilkington] that holds her back and dooms her dates to failure.
@@jamesatkinsonja Any of the many names which are common for women of her age. If you think it isn't a problem, do you think Ricky Gervais' character should be named Stanley, Arthur, Harold or Albert? Would you prefer to have an elderly name?
@@jamesatkinsonja She doesn't get many dates. She's portrayed unconvincingly as unattractive. That as well as her poor social skills are implied to be the reasons that she's unhappily single, almost celibate & only has one friend. That's totally unrealistic - she'd get plenty of opportunities, despite being saddled with an elderly name & lacking social skills.
@@andrewjones575 In fairness if Maggie is supposed to be the same age as Ashley Jenson [who was born in 1969 so was 36 in series 1] Maggie probably would have been more common then [say like Helen and Susan] and Ricky was born in 1961 [44]. It doesn't really both me too much [Derek [Del Boy] and Rodney are quite old names even for 1981 when 'Only fools' started] but if she was called say Jenny it wouldn't stand out. I suppose I was going by given there is only 13 episodes, she does date and attempt to date several guys [such as the Kate Winslet and Ross Kemp episodes] though this is more common in series 1 and fades a little afterwards [ending up dating the agent out of despiration in the Ian McKellen episode] but fair enough- in the entertainment world she works in the character isn't 'model beautiful' and the clothes she wears don't flatter her [hence why the 'Bafta' episode stands out]. In Seinfeld George is supposed to be a loser despite dating nearly 50 woman over the course of the show. I do wonder if they introduced the Lizzie character in the 'Les Dennis' episode so Maggie looks less of a loser by comparision [similar to Micheal with Alan Partridge].
@@jamesatkinsonja Maggie is usually from Margaret, which is by far the most common name of elderly women in the UK. She's far too young for that name. If many women born around 1969 are named Margaret or Maggie you could name many in the public eye who are. Have you met many women of that age with that name? Helen & Susan aren't elderly names. Susan is the most common female name in the UK. Margaret is in the same elderly category as Beryl, Ethel, Gladys, Edna, Agatha, Maud, Doris, Mabel, Dorothy, Hilda etc. You haven't said how you'd feel if you were saddled with an elderly name like Harold, Albert, Reginald, Ernest, Arthur, Stanley or Wilfred. Even with dowdy clothes, being fairly poor, having an elderly name & lacking social skills she'd still have loads of male admirers & far more than one friend. It's obvious she's of well below average looks & has been made under. She's clearly an attractive young woman & that alone would gain her loads of men to choose from, as well as friends of both genders.
5:55 That's very true. To get Samuel L. Jackson, they shot his scenes in one day, a full month before the rest of Series 1 even started filming. Famously, Jude Law had to pull out of the last episode of series 1 quite late [hence the otherwise pointless poster of his pointless Alfie remake at the end] -I get the feeling most of Law's material went into the Orlando Bloom episode in series 2. There were also talks from Gervais of the likes of Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Madonna appearing which didn't materialise. 6:19 Given how popular the show was at the time, there probably was a lot of celebs wanting to appear [or Gervais and Merchant wanted them in] but as it's such a short show [compared to the also cameo heavy 'Curb your enthusiasm'] it feels like they burnt through the list in the finale special to an extent [and maybe some ended up getting there cameo on 'Life's too short'].
Extras is slightly paradoxical, I wonder if it flew under the radar because if the long shadow cast by The Office, and its relatively fast turn around thereafter like you say. I would fairly regularly meet acquaintances who could slip Office quotes into conversations a solid 10-15 years after the original run. Either way I really enjoyed Extras, particularly the contrast in tone to The Office, it was a smart decision by Smerch and Gervais.
Great vid. One thing that has been on my mind when watching recent comedies is the strengths and weaknesses of Merchant and Gervais as individual writers and directors. Watching The Outlaws and After Life definitely give some sense of the differences (for what it's worth, I think Merchant's recent output is far stronger than Gervais'). You can't imagine Merchant doing the standup Gervais does, for example, but Gervais is also far more prone to maudlin sentimentality and lecturing. Look, for example, at how Outlaws handles different points of view. I think it is a bit too aligned with the kind of BBC/mainstream, for what it's worth, but different ideas are treated with respect. In After Life, everyone is stupid except the main character - the Gervais stand-in. Couldn't he have challenged himself and written the main character to be, I dunno, religious? Rambling now, but I would love to see your thoughts on this kind of thing...
That would be interesting given it feels a bit like 'Extra's series 3' in some ways [especially with Barry returning] and marks the end of the Gervais -Merchant partnership.
i loved extras when i was in high school but after my opinions on Gervais did a 180 id been taying away from it and i thought it wouldnt have aged well. But you saying its like a metacommentary on where he would end up makes me tempted to revisit it. It shows how aware and forward thinking Merchant probably was.
My favourite Extras storyline was always the antagonism between Andy Millman and Greg Lindley-Jones. Andy hit success first with his sitcom, but Greg overtook him with 'real' acting and became a respected thhhhhhhhespian while Andy was left frustrated.
Extras is actually the only TV show with Ricky Gervais that I will never not find funny, it has this beautiful cynicism that I feel like After Life tries so so hard to emulate and Andy’s character felt flawed and realistic he didn’t just call everyone a fat c**nt
I think a lot of that comes from the fact that Extras came from a time where Ricky (and Steve) were still pretty connected with the "real world". They'd only been big stars for a handful of years by this point. I get the feeling that nowadays Ricky is about the farthest thing from the man on the street as you could be, surrounded solely by yes-men, his usual crew of hangers-on and his twitter brigade. I don't think he really knows how real people behave anymore, yet constantly attempts to write shows about the behaviour of real people.
@@Clone54_ comedy can absolutely punch down and still work. Gervais did it often in his early work, however the context is different now. At the time he was an upstart from working class Reading, now he is a made man with absurd wealth and a detachment from reality lecturing down. The material on trans activism, given the cultural climate of the time pretty outrageous. It was completely against the grain of acceptable material in mainstream comedy. Much in the same way Gervais early material on religion followed a similar vein.
It's funny you made the comment about how the pair didn't go about just making "The Office 2" as that's literally EXACTLY what Michael Schur did with The US Office. Parks and Rec, the Good Place, Brooklyn Nine-Nine are all cut from the same cloth of the US Office (from season 3 onwards, when it shied away from cringe humour and went more into slapstick).
Though it's possibly faded over time for, like a lot of celebrity satires, feeling a bit dated in places [for example Orlando Bloom is hardly a big name now] and the characters are certainly not as rich as 'The Office' [I agree with your issues with the Maggie character even if Ashley Jensen is very likeable], I still enjoy the show and it has many fine moments and highlights, particularly the Les Dennis episode and 'When the Whistle Blows'.
Yes, certain cameos do definitely age the show somewhat. Obviously the joke with a lot of the characters (especially in the Christmas special) is that they're has-been's and minor celebrities whose time has passed, but I'm not sure that would even register to younger people nowadays with people like Hale & Pace or Lisa Scott-Lee. They may as well be fictional characters.
I feel as though Gervais's entire comedy career hinges on 'm*ng-gate'. He was criticised for using an ableist slur. He doubled down on it. A previously obscure character of Derek was unearthed and scrutinised in the light of these criticisms. And the entire Derek show that followed felt like an attempt to retrofit a sense of kindness onto a bit that was clearly meant to make the audience feel uncomfortable in a 'should we really be laughing at this' kind of way - the show was literally called Rubberneckers!!
Got a take on 'People Just Do Nothing'? It's not available on any services in the US and the movie is impossible to find so any content is exciting! Also, I really enjoy your takes on failed American versions of British shows. Keep bangin'!
@wormnog Good call, I should have worded it differently. I meant the 'Big In Japan' movie specifically and also figured PJDN must have collections of deleted scenes or bonus material that wouldn't be available other than a DVD box set or something similar. Thanks for helping me clarify!
His life experiences today are just whatever the algorithm shows him on Twitter, so his whole understanding of the world doesn't feel relatable anymore, unless you're also on Twitter each day and following those exact same trends. I still like him and want to see him make more stuff, but he definitely needs a writing partner. I would love for it to be Steve, but get the feeling that won't ever happen again.
Imagine the opinion you have of Ricky Gervais now, without the opinion of him you had for him after the Office and Extras and XFM , that's the opinion of him I've always had. I don't see his genius and I never did. But I've enjoyed every single video you made.
@based-ys9um was it his recent forays into culture war jokes that irked you somewhat. I've noticed a trend after his trans material in left leaning types tearing him to shreds whilst elevating Merchant given his mainstream trajectory.
@@ThyCorylus not really although I do think his culture war jokes are lazy. I mean his TV shows. The writing is on the nose. And the sentimental stuff is too on the nose and cringe.
I’ve always said Extras is funnier than The Office, in terms of pure comedy and ‘cringe value’, but The Office was just more groundbreaking. Both are great
No-one ever seems to discuss how Maggie was clearly autistic and was given absolutely zero plot other than "I'm looking for a man". The way Gervais puts her through the wringer in the Christmas special is a level of cruelty similar to Lars von Trier. It's the worst writing of a female character by a man that I've ever seen.
It's so priceless to me how After Life and When the Whistle Blows are the exact opposite types of programmes to each other and yet, they both perfectly represent a creator's downward trajectory and both basically make the exact same statement about shallow, empty audio-visual slop, except only one does it intentionally. It reminds me of the opening of Tropic Thunder, how Jack Black's "shitty lowbrow comedy" trailer is followed by Downey Jr's "shitty prestige drama" trailer and how perfectly they mirror each other. It's almost like Ricky deliberately made After Life as morose as possible so he wouldn't forever be pigeonholed as a comedian, without realising there's more than one way to lose credibility.
I watched it all recently and was struck about how mid-00's it felt, it doesn't have the timeless quality of The Office, which apart from the big computer monitors still feels 'fresher'. There is something a little empty about the show. Also struck me how Bowie, Cheggers, George Michael and little Ronnie are all no longer with us...the first series is much superior IMHO.
Been a while since my last upload! Long comment ahead, if you care.
I've just been very busy, and as I do this entirely as a hobby, I wasn't going to force myself to make videos if I couldn't give them my full attention. I would rather not just make and upload things for the sake of it, and thus I decided to simply take a break. I have no intentions of becoming a "youtuber" (ugh), and treating making comedy analysis as some game against a nebulous algorithm. Frankly, I hate that shit. If that means long stretches of nothing released, then so be it. I hope you understand.
Thank you to the people that contacted me via twitter and email over the past few months with nice messages and to ask if I was ok, or would be returning at some point. I really appreciate that you took the time out of your day to do that! It meant a lot. I probably should’ve been more open about taking a break. Oh well.
On that front, I have no plans to stop making videos on comedy. However, I, again, will not be forcing anything, or rushing to upload for the sake of it.
I did also kind of burn myself out by talking about Peep Show for so long (and so often). I think I'll talk about the show again, but in a much more relaxed way. My videos are normally very tightly scripted, and I spend a stupid amount of time writing/researching/etc, to the point that I feel like I've said pretty much all I can say about the show in my usual formats. People have asked me many times over the years to do more "informal" content (eg. tier lists, short top 5 videos etc), which I've always strayed away from, but maybe that would work? I don't know. I also will most likely not finish my top 10 episodes series, because, frankly, I don't care to. I was not enjoying making it.
I have a couple more Once-Over videos in various stages of done-ness, and would also possibly like to make just some... videos, about comedy. Not as part of some series, not going super in-depth and combing over minutiae, merely just briefly talking about a topic. I think writing a 5 minute video here and there is a much more sustainable way to tackle comedy discussion for me at this current moment in time. But we'll see. I can't promise anything, and to be honest, I wouldn't want to either.
Do not expect any consistency from me for the foreseeable future, but rather just potentially something every now and then. I think now more than ever, this channel shall be a creative outlet for myself to talk about the good and the bad from the world of comedy.
Cheers.
Thanks for another great video! Im a huge Britcom fan(Im British) and find your takes and opinions really interesting and your videos really enjoyable to watch. Im glad you arent just churning out "content", i think the quality and "feel" of the videos would change dramatically and I would rather wait for a video that was lovingly made than watch a tier list that was thrown together for the sake of putting something out.
Keep up the great work man!
Glad to see another video from you, mate. Hoping to cover some more sitcom stuff on my own channel in future and you're a bit of an inspiration in that regard.
Love your channel mate. Thanks for your videos :)
I love how straightforward you are, very refreshing in a world of shout outs, sneaky adverts and random shit trying to service an algorithm.
Nice to see you back
"Babe, wake up. Andrew uploaded a new video."
*mom wake up .
We miss you Andrew
I’ll forever be coming back to this channel, peep show was a comfort show for me and andrews channel was like an add on to it. I used to love stumbling through my front door stoned to the gills ready to watch either peep show or andrews videos, cheers mate for this gem of a channel. Please never delete it
come back bro
I liked how Barry from eastenders was referred to as Barry from eastenders
By everyone except Andy. A nice touch.
This is one of those channels that makes you question if similar are out there in the depths of RUclips or if this is simply the only one like it.
Glad I'm not the only one to notice the incredible similarities between When the Whistle Blows and Afterlife
Extras is a last hurrah for Gervais. A very good show with some truly exceptional gags (the Bowie cameo, the fizzy Water flirt and Barry from Eastenders showing his range are particular highlights for me) but, looking back, you can start to see the cracks in Gervais's formula. Andy Millman goes through the same exact arc in the end of every season and in the christmas Special, just like what happens in After Life. The difference já that the rest of the show is so good that the flaws are minor. Thanks for the retrospective! Glad to have you back
I agree. Personally I consider Andy's Big Brother speech, while well-fitting within Extras, to be the turning point. It's basically Ricky talking as much as it is Andy talking, and him just using his characters as a blatant literal mouthpiece to just give his opinions on whatever he's thinking at the time (often in incredibly unfunny and dull ways) would become a staple of his work.
@@axw There's another moment in Extras, in the Kate Winslet episode I think, where he is asked whether he believes in God, and he does a little 'no I'm an atheist I believe in science' bit. Holy shit it's so cringe. It's basically just Ricky copy-and-pasting a bit of his standup into the episode.
@@axw True. Alan Partridge is pretty much the opposite of everything Steve Coogan stands for in real life so the satire/commentary feels more funny than having Ricky's 'characters' just parroting his real life view points.
strong observations, well performed
Oh how we miss you...
Welcome back Andrew we missed you !!
I feel like the Bowie episode was probably written specifically with Bowie in mind, seeing how RG is such a big fan
yeah, especially given they went quite soft on Bowie, compared to the other celebs they had send themselves up
I'd still love to see you do one of these for Friday Night Dinner one day
I love coming back and rewatching all your videos you are one of my favourite creators on here
I love Extras. Darren Lamb is probably my favourite comedy character ever (sorry Super Hans). What also helps is the bloopers for the show are absolutely hilarious too.
Glad youre still posting mate, cant wait to watch this later - loved Extras.
i think there's lots to find funny about extras, but the outtakes are the true gold for me. laughed heavily at that 30 minutes outtakes compilation
The world needs Andrew
Fiiiiinally back 😄
In terms of big laughs, I seriously think that Patrick Stewarts' scene is the funniest thing I ever saw in a TV show, both at the time and rewatching it later.
New Andrew! New Andrew!
One of my favourite aspects of Extras is that despite being able to pull in stars like Ben Stiller for the first episode, they still had incredibly British C list celebrities on like Les Dennis and Keith Chegwin who had zero international standing. I always thought that showed a great level of confidence and showed that, at least then, Ricky hadn't totally sold out
Yeah exactly. It wasn't about getting people to watch by having a big name celebrity in it.
Was literally looking at your channel today and thinking “huh weird Andrew hadn’t uploaded in six months” nice gift this
Steve as the incompetent agent is so funny, every scene is hilarious, pure farce. I really enjoyed extras at the time, it hasn't held up as well as the office but it's still great.
Agreed!
I was thinking the other day I haven't seen a video from you for a while. Glad you're back. My brother and uncle really liked Extras when it first came out, my uni housemates weren't so keen. Their first episode was the one with Daniel Radcliffe.
Please do a video on Derry Girls.
I’ve left a comment a few times on the channel just appreciating what you do to be completely honest. Hope everything’s all good and you make a return soon, it’s been way too long since I last smoke a j and tucked into a new Andrew upload. :)
Come back Andrew, we miss your reviews
This videos are honestly so good, bang on the money with most of your points. Can't wait for the next one. Would be keen to see a once over done on the thick of it and fleabag. Keep up the great work?
GUESS WHO'S BACK
Return of the king
Great to have you back Andrew!
Welcome back
mate! Glad to see you making vids again
I've missed you man
Ricky really did turn into his character from Curb Your Enthusiasm!
He’s returned, glad to see you back man
Great review! Can you do Merchant's Hello Ladies series?
I frequently quote the scene where Patrick Stewart pitches his TV show idea
"But I've already seen everything"
Keep making vids andrew
The Welsh bloke lives rent free in my head. Found the joker of the pack. Chat and a laugh, laugh and a chat, then some kids came by his shop, threw acid in his eyes, blinded him. Never laughed again.
We. Will. Rock. You.
Andrew if you aren't going to finish your top 10 peep show episodes video, can we get the list of your favourites ahaha
Babe, wake up. Yes, I know what time it is, listen. Andrew's back.
Good to see you back. More The Office and Extras videos would be good. Listing your favourite characters etc.
I feel like Life’s Too Short was such an obvious retread of Extras that it kind of cheapened the whole thing, but it’s still better than anything post-Merchant.
I think it goes to show how good Extra's really was because 'LTS' is trying to recapture it's magic and way misses the mark.
4:21 - I disagree, as I think The Office & The Ricky Gervais Show are better than Extras. If you'd said second-best sitcom, I'd agree.
Glad you’re back :)
Do Everyone Else Burns, i'd like to hear what you think about that.
I thought the same thing about extras and Gervais's career. There's a scene where Andy's more successful ex-extra and now actor "friend" and his "cool" agent tell him that he can't be a successful and respected actor, he can only be a comedy actor using catch-phrases and silly costumes. This echoes Gervais's acting career exactly, but I'm not sure if he meant it that way.
Welcome back love u
i started watching this show thinking it would be about extras and it was. couple of extras just 'avin a laugh and then boom full on existential crisis of andy
great video, I 100% agree that some of the episodes are just written around a type of character rather than someone specially and that makes what you can actually do with sed celebrity less versatile... you can see evidence of this in that "Ricky Gervais finding Leo" video, Ricky and Steve go through talking about getting Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt etc.. they seemingly settle on Orlando Bloom
Barry stole the show for me. Him and merchant together on the pull ect. Such A great double act.
Can you do life's too short
Excellent review, some fantastic points throughtout. I don't agree with your point on the relationship between Maggie and Andy though, I actually think the two characters play off very well throughout the two series (with the exception of the 'Maggie growing-up' thing), and contribute a lot to the comedy, but also messaging of the show. Its quite sweet seeing the two hold a platonic relationship, which plays heavily into the development of Andy being a geniune and kind person; which, is very important considering the character spends alot of time venting and being negative towards the industry he works in. This kind of character meta is also seen in David Brent; with a balance between him missing social ques and being rude, with periods and scenes of him being vulnerable; like the sacking. My point is, Gervais and Merchant are masters of creating 'real' funny characters; which they do this (in-part) with building characters' around a close relationship with a geniune and kind person because it humanises the 'funny' character - building the humour and social complexity of the 'funny' situations they fall into (and of course, their response to them). I also disagree with your points on Maggie being 'wacky' and annoying sometimes; I think it works well to have characters sometimee do very obvisouly stupid things - which I think just brings the viewer back to conscious their watching a comedy; and that silly things happen. I think it would play off as slightly pretentious and sly and these 'stupid' moments did'nt happen. Not sure, just some off-the-bat thoughts on a show which I think is hugely hugely underrated.
Ashley Jensen is good, but I don't know why they cast a clearly attractive actress to play a character who's meant to be plain & dowdy, nor why the writers chose to give a thirtysomething character the elderly name Maggie.
I think other than the Clive Owen bit [which is exaggerated so Maggie quits being an extra] she is implied to be decently attractive given she doesn't find it hard to get dates and she pull off the 'BAFTA dress' very well. It's more her lack of social skills and tact [apparently she was supposed to be a female version of Karl Pilkington] that holds her back and dooms her dates to failure.
@@jamesatkinsonja Any of the many names which are common for women of her age. If you think it isn't a problem, do you think Ricky Gervais' character should be named Stanley, Arthur, Harold or Albert? Would you prefer to have an elderly name?
@@jamesatkinsonja She doesn't get many dates. She's portrayed unconvincingly as unattractive. That as well as her poor social skills are implied to be the reasons that she's unhappily single, almost celibate & only has one friend. That's totally unrealistic - she'd get plenty of opportunities, despite being saddled with an elderly name & lacking social skills.
@@andrewjones575 In fairness if Maggie is supposed to be the same age as Ashley Jenson [who was born in 1969 so was 36 in series 1] Maggie probably would have been more common then [say like Helen and Susan] and Ricky was born in 1961 [44]. It doesn't really both me too much [Derek [Del Boy] and Rodney are quite old names even for 1981 when 'Only fools' started] but if she was called say Jenny it wouldn't stand out.
I suppose I was going by given there is only 13 episodes, she does date and attempt to date several guys [such as the Kate Winslet and Ross Kemp episodes] though this is more common in series 1 and fades a little afterwards [ending up dating the agent out of despiration in the Ian McKellen episode] but fair enough- in the entertainment world she works in the character isn't 'model beautiful' and the clothes she wears don't flatter her [hence why the 'Bafta' episode stands out]. In Seinfeld George is supposed to be a loser despite dating nearly 50 woman over the course of the show. I do wonder if they introduced the Lizzie character in the 'Les Dennis' episode so Maggie looks less of a loser by comparision [similar to Micheal with Alan Partridge].
@@jamesatkinsonja Maggie is usually from Margaret, which is by far the most common name of elderly women in the UK. She's far too young for that name. If many women born around 1969 are named Margaret or Maggie you could name many in the public eye who are. Have you met many women of that age with that name? Helen & Susan aren't elderly names. Susan is the most common female name in the UK. Margaret is in the same elderly category as Beryl, Ethel, Gladys, Edna, Agatha, Maud, Doris, Mabel, Dorothy, Hilda etc.
You haven't said how you'd feel if you were saddled with an elderly name like Harold, Albert, Reginald, Ernest, Arthur, Stanley or Wilfred.
Even with dowdy clothes, being fairly poor, having an elderly name & lacking social skills she'd still have loads of male admirers & far more than one friend. It's obvious she's of well below average looks & has been made under. She's clearly an attractive young woman & that alone would gain her loads of men to choose from, as well as friends of both genders.
yo, i hope you come back soon!
5:55 That's very true. To get Samuel L. Jackson, they shot his scenes in one day, a full month before the rest of Series 1 even started filming. Famously, Jude Law had to pull out of the last episode of series 1 quite late [hence the otherwise pointless poster of his pointless Alfie remake at the end] -I get the feeling most of Law's material went into the Orlando Bloom episode in series 2. There were also talks from Gervais of the likes of Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Madonna appearing which didn't materialise.
6:19 Given how popular the show was at the time, there probably was a lot of celebs wanting to appear [or Gervais and Merchant wanted them in] but as it's such a short show [compared to the also cameo heavy 'Curb your enthusiasm'] it feels like they burnt through the list in the finale special to an extent [and maybe some ended up getting there cameo on 'Life's too short'].
Nice one Andrew. Perhaps a summary of Spaced? Underrated imo
I would like to at some point. Big fan of Spaced!
Extras is slightly paradoxical, I wonder if it flew under the radar because if the long shadow cast by The Office, and its relatively fast turn around thereafter like you say. I would fairly regularly meet acquaintances who could slip Office quotes into conversations a solid 10-15 years after the original run. Either way I really enjoyed Extras, particularly the contrast in tone to The Office, it was a smart decision by Smerch and Gervais.
Great vid. One thing that has been on my mind when watching recent comedies is the strengths and weaknesses of Merchant and Gervais as individual writers and directors. Watching The Outlaws and After Life definitely give some sense of the differences (for what it's worth, I think Merchant's recent output is far stronger than Gervais'). You can't imagine Merchant doing the standup Gervais does, for example, but Gervais is also far more prone to maudlin sentimentality and lecturing. Look, for example, at how Outlaws handles different points of view. I think it is a bit too aligned with the kind of BBC/mainstream, for what it's worth, but different ideas are treated with respect. In After Life, everyone is stupid except the main character - the Gervais stand-in. Couldn't he have challenged himself and written the main character to be, I dunno, religious? Rambling now, but I would love to see your thoughts on this kind of thing...
Gervais seems only to be capable of writing himself and morons.
It's telling that 'Outlaws' involves Merchant sharing the writing and directing with other people while Gervais does everything himself now a days.
Come back man😔
Welcome back Andrew, we've missed you. Hoping you'll do a once over of Life's Too Short. Love the content, keep up the good work!
That would be interesting given it feels a bit like 'Extra's series 3' in some ways [especially with Barry returning] and marks the end of the Gervais -Merchant partnership.
wonder if there will ever be a once over of the mighty boosh
i loved extras when i was in high school but after my opinions on Gervais did a 180 id been taying away from it and i thought it wouldnt have aged well. But you saying its like a metacommentary on where he would end up makes me tempted to revisit it. It shows how aware and forward thinking Merchant probably was.
MORE ANDREW PLEASE
Not trying to bother but can you make more content for us americans disassociating after the election?
Perfect line to end this video on.
You haven’t uploaded a video in a year like peep show or other stuff
Its been a shit year without you andrew
Are you going to continue with your top 10 count down from Peep Show
He said in the 'pinned' comment he's abandoning it as he wasn't enjoying making it which is fair enough.
@@jamesatkinsonjain which video
My favourite Extras storyline was always the antagonism between Andy Millman and Greg Lindley-Jones. Andy hit success first with his sitcom, but Greg overtook him with 'real' acting and became a respected thhhhhhhhespian while Andy was left frustrated.
Always interesting to hear your take on comedy shows. You've done a few Ricky-Steve reviews, I wonder what your thoughts are on The Outlaws?
I have yet to watch it! I was waiting until it had fully finished airing. I assume it has by this point?
Would you consider reviewing the inbetweeners? I guess it has that similar cringe dry humour as other things you’ve reviewed, just an idea.
He did a 'once over' on the show a while ago.
Talk about Father Ted.
Hey man, why’d you stop making videos?
Andrew has posted a comment on this video explaining why
Extras is actually the only TV show with Ricky Gervais that I will never not find funny, it has this beautiful cynicism that I feel like After Life tries so so hard to emulate and Andy’s character felt flawed and realistic he didn’t just call everyone a fat c**nt
I think a lot of that comes from the fact that Extras came from a time where Ricky (and Steve) were still pretty connected with the "real world". They'd only been big stars for a handful of years by this point. I get the feeling that nowadays Ricky is about the farthest thing from the man on the street as you could be, surrounded solely by yes-men, his usual crew of hangers-on and his twitter brigade. I don't think he really knows how real people behave anymore, yet constantly attempts to write shows about the behaviour of real people.
@@axw Yup these days Ricky punches down to get easy laughs from brain dead gammons and searches his own name on twitter all day.
@@Clone54_ comedy can absolutely punch down and still work. Gervais did it often in his early work, however the context is different now. At the time he was an upstart from working class Reading, now he is a made man with absurd wealth and a detachment from reality lecturing down.
The material on trans activism, given the cultural climate of the time pretty outrageous. It was completely against the grain of acceptable material in mainstream comedy. Much in the same way Gervais early material on religion followed a similar vein.
Wacky shit I just happened to type andrew peep show out of boredom haha
yeah, I rate Extras pretty highly as well 8.5/10
Like many good sitcoms, Andrew ended a bit too early for the fans.
The Office was more influential yeah, but honestly I prefer Extras. It's my favourite thing Gervais has done.
It's funny you made the comment about how the pair didn't go about just making "The Office 2" as that's literally EXACTLY what Michael Schur did with The US Office. Parks and Rec, the Good Place, Brooklyn Nine-Nine are all cut from the same cloth of the US Office (from season 3 onwards, when it shied away from cringe humour and went more into slapstick).
Do you like his shows
Though it's possibly faded over time for, like a lot of celebrity satires, feeling a bit dated in places [for example Orlando Bloom is hardly a big name now] and the characters are certainly not as rich as 'The Office' [I agree with your issues with the Maggie character even if Ashley Jensen is very likeable], I still enjoy the show and it has many fine moments and highlights, particularly the Les Dennis episode and 'When the Whistle Blows'.
Yes, certain cameos do definitely age the show somewhat. Obviously the joke with a lot of the characters (especially in the Christmas special) is that they're has-been's and minor celebrities whose time has passed, but I'm not sure that would even register to younger people nowadays with people like Hale & Pace or Lisa Scott-Lee. They may as well be fictional characters.
Love extras
1:58 in other words, you are a saucer drinker lol
I feel as though Gervais's entire comedy career hinges on 'm*ng-gate'. He was criticised for using an ableist slur. He doubled down on it. A previously obscure character of Derek was unearthed and scrutinised in the light of these criticisms. And the entire Derek show that followed felt like an attempt to retrofit a sense of kindness onto a bit that was clearly meant to make the audience feel uncomfortable in a 'should we really be laughing at this' kind of way - the show was literally called Rubberneckers!!
Got a take on 'People Just Do Nothing'? It's not available on any services in the US and the movie is impossible to find so any content is exciting! Also, I really enjoy your takes on failed American versions of British shows. Keep bangin'!
He has made this video already.
@wormnog Good call, I should have worded it differently. I meant the 'Big In Japan' movie specifically and also figured PJDN must have collections of deleted scenes or bonus material that wouldn't be available other than a DVD box set or something similar. Thanks for helping me clarify!
His life experiences today are just whatever the algorithm shows him on Twitter, so his whole understanding of the world doesn't feel relatable anymore, unless you're also on Twitter each day and following those exact same trends.
I still like him and want to see him make more stuff, but he definitely needs a writing partner. I would love for it to be Steve, but get the feeling that won't ever happen again.
Imagine the opinion you have of Ricky Gervais now, without the opinion of him you had for him after the Office and Extras and XFM , that's the opinion of him I've always had.
I don't see his genius and I never did. But I've enjoyed every single video you made.
Genuine question, how can you see The Office and not see the genius in him?
@@freddiequinlan5952because Steve merchant is the actual genius behind the office. If it was just Ricky writing and directing it wouldn't good
@based-ys9um was it his recent forays into culture war jokes that irked you somewhat. I've noticed a trend after his trans material in left leaning types tearing him to shreds whilst elevating Merchant given his mainstream trajectory.
@@ThyCorylus not really although I do think his culture war jokes are lazy. I mean his TV shows. The writing is on the nose. And the sentimental stuff is too on the nose and cringe.
I’ve always said Extras is funnier than The Office, in terms of pure comedy and ‘cringe value’, but The Office was just more groundbreaking. Both are great
Loved extras and personally thought that the extras xmas special was better than the office one.
ONCE-OVER : Duckman (1994).
@axw What is the minimum amount of compensation that would motivate you to make future videos
anyone else think 'when the whistle blows' is absolutely hilarious??
You're*
Another's great video.
No-one ever seems to discuss how Maggie was clearly autistic and was given absolutely zero plot other than "I'm looking for a man". The way Gervais puts her through the wringer in the Christmas special is a level of cruelty similar to Lars von Trier. It's the worst writing of a female character by a man that I've ever seen.
From what I gather she is pretty heavily based on Karl Pilkington.
It's so priceless to me how After Life and When the Whistle Blows are the exact opposite types of programmes to each other and yet, they both perfectly represent a creator's downward trajectory and both basically make the exact same statement about shallow, empty audio-visual slop, except only one does it intentionally.
It reminds me of the opening of Tropic Thunder, how Jack Black's "shitty lowbrow comedy" trailer is followed by Downey Jr's "shitty prestige drama" trailer and how perfectly they mirror each other.
It's almost like Ricky deliberately made After Life as morose as possible so he wouldn't forever be pigeonholed as a comedian, without realising there's more than one way to lose credibility.
MUSTAAANG SALLLAAAAAY
'Capacheenio'
I watched it all recently and was struck about how mid-00's it felt, it doesn't have the timeless quality of The Office, which apart from the big computer monitors still feels 'fresher'. There is something a little empty about the show. Also struck me how Bowie, Cheggers, George Michael and little Ronnie are all no longer with us...the first series is much superior IMHO.
Extras was always way more interesting and funny than The Office to me