Life's Too Short

[BillBrasky]

does this have a premiere date yet?

This is only for the UK, but it's scheduled to premiere Thursday, November 10th on BBC2. I think it will probably air in the US sometime early next year.

[nathansmart]

I'm pretty sure I heard Gervais talk about a deal with HBO again.

[mike]

I never knew what Johnny Depp's real voice sounded like, I guess.



Very excited!

[Victor]

BBC 2 just aired a little preview show, talking to Ricky, Stephen and Warick about the upcoming show; the clips shown have made me very excited - it looks FANTASTIC.

[nathansmart]

Did anyone watch this yet? I thought it was a perfect mashup of The Office and Extras. I loved it (even the sillier than normal characters like the accountant and the secretary).

[beewcar]

I've only been able to find the Making Of special online thus far, and it certainly spoils a lot of the series, but I didn't mind. Hopefully this series leads Warwick to more substantial work, and further away from more Leprechaun sequels.

[nathansmart]

Just do a google search for Life's Too Short S01E01 and you'll find plenty of stuff.

[Couldn'tThinkOfaName]

I watched it. It was fine.

[beewcar]

Just do a google search for Life's Too Short S01E01 and you'll find plenty of stuff.

do you happen to have a non-torrent link?

[suavepebble]

I thought the Liam Neeson scene was so good that I actually had visions of Gervais writing it and laughing as I was watching it.

Without getting into spoiler territory, the line, "I'm also a lesbian."

This show can't lose... Warwick Davis is one of the most naturally likeable people I've ever seen and to put that guy into situations where he is constantly shitted on will never get old.

[nathansmart]

do you happen to have a non-torrent link?

I forgot to say to add something like hotfile or fileserve to that search. That should give you direct file links. If that doesn't work, do the same search but have google narrow it down to blogs only.

[Victor]

Tricky one this. First of all, it's only episode one of a new sitcom, so foolish to to jump to any conclusions just yet. Was it funny? Yes, in bits it was very funny indeed, but it does seem to be very much basically bits of the Office mixed with bits of Extras, which seems a bit too easy; they haven't even tried to hide the elements, or present them in a new way. Still, they do it well, so churlish to complain.

I suppose my main sticking point right now, is that, although the scenes are very funny, and the one with Neeson in was the high point funny-wise, Merchant and Gervais should not be in this. At least, they shouldn't be in it playing themselves. It just seems crowbarred in, WHY are they there? Create Warwicks own sitcom universe.

And though, as I've already said, the Neeson bit was really funny, it had nothing to do with Warrick. If you are going to have these star turns, and especially in episode one, then Warwick HAS to be involved directly, surely? Otherwise, as in this case, it was like the show presented this unrelated, if very funny, sketch.

Anyway, I did enjoy it, Warwick was good, and there looks like there's potential with him and his new secretary.

I'd love to see Mechant and Gervais write a show with Merchant playing the lead, I'm sort of surprised they haven't, he seems such a perfect figure to build a funny show around. I can only assume he doesn't want to. I'd have happily watched a spin-off featuring his character from Extras and Barry as they try to run their agency.

[nathansmart]

I think you're right, but, like you said it remains to be seen what their major purpose will be in the series. It makes sense, though, that if you have a down-on-his-luck, desperate actor that he could try to get work wherever he knows his connections to be, specifically with the big boys that have given him past work. And, if you're delusional, you'll go to the lengths that Warwick is going with G&M.

[chrisrozwod]

I'm all for a Merchant centric show.

As for LTS, I thought it was fun, and I think it's reasonable to have Ricky and Steve in the show this way. Really looking forward to more accountant and secretary scenes.

[beewcar]

a faux-doc about Merchant would be great. from what I understand he's quite the socialite, and listeners of the podcast know how he likes to go out dancing. the stories of his world travels he told on the podcast are great fodder for a 6-episode series. listeners will remember a hilarious story about losing his swim trunks in the ocean in Brazil.

He's also doing a small stand up tour of the states this winter and I really want to get out to a show.

[BillBrasky]

Even though the format of the show is very derivative, and it doesn't make total sense for Gervais and Merchant to be there, the first episode still had several funny moments. I liked when Davis was talking about his movie "Willow" ("Now this movie cost $40 million to make....and it made...quite a bit of that back"), and the scene where the young black guy didn't recognize him was funny too. I agree that the scene with Liam Neeson was a little shoehorned in and didn't really have anything to do with Warwick Davis. It felt like they wanted more of an "Extras" atmosphere in that scene and went with it even though it didn't make sense in the context of this being a documentary about Davis. I assume a lot of the celebrity cameos (i.e. the Depp scene) will be similar. Hopefully there will be more to the show with the other characters like the secretary and the accountant.

I wonder if there will be a scene somewhere in the series where Davis is in his "Leprechaun" makeup.

[Drako198]

This one is a good show to start with. And with Johnny Depp in it, well I love the guy..

[nathansmart]

This is from the British Comedy Thread which had some of the same criticisms about the Liam Neeson scene:

It's always going to be somewhat of a stretch and the irony of it all with the commentary that they make on celebrity drop-ins in the Chris Martin episode of Extras. And, I agree about the documentarians not using that sort of footage, but maybe they would? If we're looking at this as a fake reality show (as opposed to a straight documentary) then I think they definitely would throw in any star power they could to get ratings.

[mcpiranhas]

I love that Liam Neeson scene but it's sort of distracting that it's the exact same joke as Brent's improv with the motivational speaker ("There's been a rape up there!"). I'm similarly distracted by the constant references to Ricky Gervais and his massive celebrity ("How come he gets away with it?"). Basically I am exhausted of the guy while being completely enamored of him, like the middle part of a marriage.

[dorothy mantooth]

listeners will remember a hilarious story about losing his swim trunks in the ocean in Brazil.

He took a wee in the sea!