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Ricky Gervais' Life's Too Short - Episode 1 review


Even a hilarious Liam Neeson cameo couldn’t save Ricky Gervais’ new show, ‘Life’s Too Short’ last night.

Gervais is a name that either brings back fond memories of his comedy or makes you want to break things.

After plastering his name across 'An Idiot Abroad' and 'The Ricky Gervais Show' despite the star of those shows being Karl Pilkington, many expected his new series, 'Life's Too Short' to be similar.

It would be about one of Ricky's crazy friends, not the egomaniac himself, a lovely little comedy about a lovely little man. Wrong again.

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There's nothing wrong with Warwick Davis here, he comes across as charming and funny despite playing a fame-hungry version of himself. The problem is that all he's doing is a glorified Ricky Gervais impression, which is probably why the comedian loves this show so much.

It ends up like a mish-mash of everything we’ve seen before from Gervais and Stephen Merchant, even Warwick’s office looked suspiciously like the one Merchant’s character used in ‘Extras’.

The pair’s writing is mediocre for them considering the genius of their last two series. Here they peddle a few stereotypes (black guy from the streets of London, ditsy secretary, incompetent professional), a few sight gags like Davis falling out of his car and most important of all, the key ingredient to all Gervais comedy.

It took a decade but the “shoot a look towards camera when someone says or does something stupid” style of comedy has finally become tired and old. There were many cases of this throughout the show, each more cringe worthy than the last.


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‘Life’s Too Short’ is confirmation that Gervais is a two-hit wonder. Try, for example, to think of the last time he last made you laugh without a film star or one of his funny friends being involved. Tricky isn't it?

He’s a man who surrounds himself with people and scenarios funnier than himself. Stephen Merchant is a funny looking chap, Karl Pilkington is the loveable simpleton, and here is a whole series based on dwarfs, a group of people with a history of being hired for roles that mock them.

Apparently Ricky Gervais is sensitive when handling taboo subjects, and usually he is, but then you watch this show and you see them poking fun at dwarves with slapstick humour and veiling it as something more.

Oh look, he can’t reach the buzzer! Oh he almost fell out of that car, ha ha ha he’s stuck in the cat flap!

He belittles these people with all the fake wit and lack of subtlety of the pun you just read.

That unfortunately is the problem with Gervais. As an individual he has lost it and most importantly he knows it.

In ‘Extras’ having Hollywood cameos worked because they were the extras, and the characters playing extras were the leads.

Here it comes off gimmicky, and yet the scene with Liam Neeson was still the hilarious highlight. Until Gervais shot a look at the camera anyway.