Ricky Gervais is "Extra Special"
Ricky Gervais is a clown, and I say this in the ancient sense of Comedy/Tragedy. His blend encompasses fun, shame, sorrow, and all the aspects of human emotion in between. His seminal show, "The Office" is quite a different animal to the version we see on this side of the Atlantic. We like a little pathos and some snarkiness, but have a hard time laughing at characters that are pathetic and/or reprehensible. The Steve Carell version is mostly very amusing, but I must admit to having adjustment issues. But one should not expect an import to travel verbatim and if it did, why bother watching?
Funnier than The Office (British version) is Extras. Here is the ongoing travails of an ambitious bit-player who aspires to actually say something on camera. Once that happens, his dreams and hopes know no bounds, leading him to terrible choices.
His sidekicks are played by Stephen Merchant {also his writing and directing partner] and Ashley Jensen. They are clueless and unbearably sad, respectively. Unlike other comedies where guest stars are brought in as stunts during sweeps week, the guests on Extras are an integral part of the story because of the show biz setting. Two of the stand-our guests are David Bowie and Daniel Radcliff.
If you haven’t yet caught up with Extras, run don't walk to your local video outlet where you can find both seasons one and two, plus the totally excellent series finale.
