Ricky Gervais Live 3: Fame

If I watch a gig of this size live or on DVD I have to compare it to the greatest stand ups that I have seen.

Gervais is hilarious in virtually everything he has done from his segments on The Eleven O'Clock Show (which also launched Sacha Baron Cohen's Ali G), The Office / Extras, his radio show on XFM (the best times I've had in traffic) and his online podcasts.

As a stand-up, I don't think he stands up (exuse the pun) to the great comedians who have hit upon gold (by genius, by luck, by hardwork or courage) the premier list of comics include - Lenny Bruce, Bill Hicks, Chris Rock, Sam Kinison, George Carlin, Eddie Izzard and last but not least Richard Prior.

Gervais's gags are more than adequate in that they service a chuckle, however stand up is more than gags, the greats are more then simply joke machines, they are jesters, actors and stylists. They play with their audience, feeding of them, knowing when they are pushed to the limit and when more leverage can be obtained. Every facial expression, every in-flex in their voice contributes to the projection of the gag.

I don't think Gervais has these skills. His most irritating points are his high pitched voice at inappropriate moments, laughing at his own (relativaly funny) jokes and a lack of any real stage presence.

I have followed his career for a long time (he's pretty much unavoidable in the U.K) and think he is a genuinely funny person, however for a tour the size of Fame, I believe he needs to get on the circuit and hone his act for many years before it is charged to a paying public.

"Fame" is the latest Ricky Gervais stand up offering, joining the stable that includes "Animal" and "Politics".

In "Fame" Ricky talks at first about being famous, then gets onto his pet topics of homosexual men, God and Adolf Hitler. It's pretty much more of the same and amazingly I've gotta say it was full of yawns. A couple of OK jokes, but most of it was rubbish and stuff we've sort of heard before. He really mailed this one in. I then tried out the special features, but again more of the same old stuff ie annoying Robin. He's pretty much a one trick pony and his act is getting a bit worn out. he's been doing it for 8 years now and needs to come up with something fresh to avoid becoming Eddie Murphy.

Disappointing.

After his previous shows 'Animals' and 'Politics' Ricky Gervais comes up with his third show 'Fame'. I've seen all three of them and to me Animals was the best followed by Fame and then Politics. But I liked all three of them, it's just my kind of humor. There are alot of good stand-up-comedians and I count Ricky Gervais in that list. Not only has he a good sense of sarcastic humor but he also has a great and unique way to bring it. Most of the time he's just playing two different characters having a conversation that leads to a joke, and he does that with his specific I-couldn't-care-less-face, whilst mumbling and mimicking at the perfect moment. Alot of his jokes are offensive, so you have to like that kind of humor, which I do, otherwise you won't have a great night watching his shows. I think you can laugh about anything because life is too short to take everything so serious, and Ricky gets that like no-one else.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

As a performer, Ricky Gervais is a bit of an anomaly. Unbearably smug yet relentlessly self-depreciating, his act is a style of it's own and one which has carved his way to international super-stardom. He's starring in big films across the pond now, such as Stardust and Night at the Museum and from his demeanor on TV, success does seem to have gone to his head a bit. Yet his success will guarantee him an audience with shows such as Fame. But that's surely what his fans will be expecting, relentless humorous stabs at celeb related stories in the headlines and on the instantness of it nowadays? But like his previous Politics, Ricky unfortunately wonders off the subject a bit too much, letting his act wonder off into totally unrelated material which, though quite funny, wastes the potential of what could have been. It'll pass, especially for fans, but the big man might want to learn a bit about discipline if he doesn't want to risk alienating any lovers. ***

I should probably just come right out and say that, when it comes to stand-up, I'm not totally sold on Ricky Gervais. There, you know now so why not just vote "useless" on my review and move on to only reading things that you agree with. For those still reading, I do find him funny enough to be worth coming back for more, but just that he works best when his un-PC and socially-awkward humour is set in context of real life reactions as he does so well in The Office and Extras. With an audience it doesn't quite work as well for me.

Regardless though I came back to watch Fame and found what I had in the past – a decent and funny show but it never had me rolling on the floor begging for him to stop. What it did do was consistently amuse me though with the subjects he covered and the way he wore his personae so convincingly. He is of course quite smug but he does combine that well with a streak of self-depreciation that takes the edge off it just about enough not to grate too badly. The material covers AIDS, charity work, fame, unworthy diseases and other stuff that allows him to be irritated and mostly it is pretty funny and creatively done.

It is a matter of taste though and for me it was just "good" but then I felt the same way after Politics and Animals and I did prefer Fame to those, so this is probably going to give the fans everything they are looking for.