Ricky Gervais Podcast to become animated show for HBO

[BillBrasky]

Ricky Gervais will soon return to HBO, as the cable network has just ordered an animated series based on his popular series of podcasts.
"The Ricky Gervais Show" will feature Gervais and his longtime collaborator Stephen Merchant (co-creator of "The Office" and "Extras"), and will revolve around the world of their unusual friend Karl Pilkington.

HBO has picked up 13 half-hour episodes of the show, which will likely begin sometime in early 2010. The show will be produced by Media Rights Capital, who recently produced another animated series for HBO, "The Life and Times of Tim". MRC will also be producing Gervais's upcoming feature film "The Invention of Lying", which is scheduled to be released by Warner Bros. on September 25th.

"The Ricky Gervais Show" first started out as a radio program in London. In 2005, Gervais and Merchant decided to turn it into a podcast, and brought along Pilkington, a producer they had met working on the radio show. The podcast soon became wildly popular, and even earned a Guinness World Record in 2007 for being the most downloaded podcast on the Internet.

Similar to the podcasts, which focused heavily on the eccentric mind of Pilkington, the show will open each week with an animated version of the trio. Once Pilkington begins telling one of his unusual stories, the animation will bring his musings to life. According to Gervais and Merchant, "Karl is a man who believes that a sea lion is a cross between a fish and a dog. Hopefully, Karl will soon enter the pantheon of animated greats."

The producers expect to deliver "The Ricky Gervais Show" to HBO by the end of the year.

[BillBrasky]

[grumm]

Here's a YouTube video of a clip from it that was shown on Letterman. Looks pretty great!

[YOUTUBE]ckvUolhEGkM[/YOUTUBE]

[BillBrasky]

HBO has picked up a second season of its animated series "The Life and Times of Tim," which it will pair with "The Ricky Gervais Show" early next year.

Both shows will debut Friday, Feb. 19, with "Ricky Gervais" at 10 p.m. ET and "Tim" at 10:30, Variety says. The former animates Gervais' podcasts with Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington, while "The Life and Times of Tim," about a guy who's forever having to extricate himself from awkward situations.

[BillBrasky]

Ricky Gervais will continue his podcast musings on HBO as the British comedian's "The Ricky Gervais Show" is getting a second season.

The show is based on Gervais' popular podcast recordings with frequent collaborator Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington. In each animated episode, the three discuss a range of topics including donating to charities, public nudity and choosing the best superpowers.

The ratings haven't been great; "Gervais" averages 180,000 viewers an episode, with a 0.1 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic. But Gervais is a popular performer who fits HBO's brand, with the network previously airing his U.K. series "Extras" and doubtless open to his future projects.

[aenemaTron]

Something really rubbed me the wrong way about the last episode. Part of it was the depiction of the Chinese homeless man, but in general I guess I don't think this show is worth doing.

[BillBrasky]

Yeah, I've sort of stopped watching this show. I've heard most of it in audio form anyway, and the animation is rarely all that clever or interesting. It seems like it's mostly just an excuse for Gervais to make money without having to do much of anything; "new money for old rope" I think is the expression? I would prefer he just do something new.

[isoS]

Agreed. The animation adds nothing comedically, and arguably subtracts from the humor of the original show. Now, if they had used the podcast (and its stories) as a jumping-off point and written an original animated series...

[dan telfer]

I never tried the podcast for various reasons, mostly because Gervais didn't grow on me until it was a confusing-to-find audiobook instead of a podcast. I laugh harder at this show than most shows. There's maybe 5 total comedies on right now that I can stand and I love TV comedies.

I acknowledge that it isn't inspiring as a premise but I really like it and I hope it stays around. I think you resent the animation more if you've already heard the podcast, which believe it or not a lot of people haven't. Having not heard it, I just think "Oh okay, they thought TV would get it out to more people and they didn't videotape them." I don't read anything insidious or lazy or shitty into it. Their stories have enough visuals (lots actually) that the premise seems to work fine for what it is.

[isoS]

Yeah, I could see it working if you haven't heard the shows, and I appreciate that a new audience is being exposed to something great. The fact that you're laughing is a testament to how good the show was, but I still contend it's funnier and better to just listen. Maybe just shut your eyes when it's on?