Line #21 YMMV/TheRickyGervaisShow


1	* ArchivePanic: It's not just the Podcasts or the animated show, there's also hours and hours of the original XFM show to listen to.
2	* CatharsisFactor: Karl beating Ricky at lateral thinking puzzles; Steve's triumphant declaration of his victory, Karl's jubilant laughter, and the opening beats to Weezer's Dope Nose syncing perfectly all make for what is possibly the most satisfying moment in the history of media.
3	* CrossesTheLineTwice: Some of Karl's comments would be ludicrously offensive if taken in earnest, [[InnocentBigot but he's so clearly clueless about the subjects in question]] that his opinions are far removed from actual grounded malice or bigotry, and a result are usually hilarious.
4	* EnsembleDarkhorse: DiscussedTrope. Karl Pilkington was such a smash hit with fans that by the middle of the first run of podcasts, Ricky was already calling it "farcical" that the show bore his name.
5	* HarsherInHindsight:
6	** In the 'Guide to Society' Karl, Ricky and Steve discuss the varying forms of government and the ways in which the state should care for its people; At one point, Ricky jokingly declares that he likes being fat and a complete pig, and the government can't really do anything about that. This discussion was several years before the British problem with obesity became so severe in 2013 and 2014 that several local councils began to send notifications and suggestions to people's mobile phones encouraging them to lose weight over the summer, alongside a handful of discussions over the idea of subjecting 'richer' foods to taxes that healthier foods would not receive.
7	** At one point, when Rick and Stephen ask Karl what he would have wanted Creator/JimmySavile to give him on ''Jim'll Fix It'', Karl says that most of the children on the show seemed sad to him. His explanation was that the children's wishes were watered down, but it is harder to listen to since Jimmy Savile was posthumously outed as a serial child molester.
8	*** When discussing ''Series/FantasyIsland'', Steve remarks that the premise of "you get a wish and a fuck" was rather like ''Jim'll Fix It'' with a bonus. He was, rather disturbingly, more accurate than he thought...
9	** The perception of Karl by the general public can be looked as as this if you consider that his image was basically tailored from the podcast days onward by Ricky and Steve to make him look as stupid as possible by giving him topics and ideas to discuss that he couldn't fully grasp or process, only for them to berate him rather then educate him; similarly his relationship with Suzanne is crafted to make him look borderline callous to her. In the earlier days on XFM and since working with Ricky and Steve, Karl has proven to be quite thoughtful and while not traditionally intelligent is capable of questioning things out of interest and to deepen his understanding, whereas the podcast and animated show sets out to make him look as weird and thoughtless as possible.
10	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Ricky's turn as the hostage taker isn't bad for a completely improvised routine to test Karl's abilities as a negotiator, he really does sound convincingly unhinged and threatening.
11	* HilariousInHindsight:
12	** Karl Pilkington pitches the idea of a man aging backwards totally seriously, years before ''Film/TheCuriousCaseOfBenjaminButton'' was released[[note]]It seems extraordinarily unlikely that he was aware of the story it was based upon. Plus, he was pitching it as if it were a viable alternative to human evolution rather than as a story. Of course that was also a plotline on ''Series/MorkAndMindy''...[[/note]].
13	** During the Halloween podcast in 2007, Karl talks about how ghosts are always stuck wearing and doing the last things they were up to before they died. Ricky laughs and mocks him. The very next year, Ricky Gervais plays the lead in ''Film/{{Ghost Town\|2008}}'', based on that exact premise.
14	*** Ricky also asks Karl what would happen if someone died while undergoing a rectal examination. Ricky's character in ''Ghost Town'' gains the ability to see ghosts after a NearDeathExperience during a colonoscopy.
15	** In ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'', Stephen Merchant plays a little, round-headed buffoon robot.
16	*** Also, one episode has Stephen going "Look what we can do with science!" in a fake-menacing voice. Now try listening to that and ''not'' think of ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}''.
17	*** Stephen Merchant also briefly discusses being alone in space, [[spoiler:which ends up being the fate of his character.]]
18	*** In one episode, Karl starts to whinge about a visit to a gadget store and finding a clock powered by a potato. In ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'', [=GLaDOS=] ends up being powered by a potato, thanks to the machinations of Steve's character.
19	** In one episode Karl describes a pair of glasses that can put virtual images over real life ones, so the wearer can have whatever they like. Ricky and Stephen dismiss this completely. It's called AugmentedReality and it's not far away from being made.
20	** In the Egypt episode of ''Series/AnIdiotAbroad'', Karl ''does'' eat a (camel) knob at night (though he didn't know what it was at the time).
21	** Ricky repeatedly talks about how fat he's getting and sounds perfectly satisfied with this across a number of the podcasts, displaying a distinct awareness of it and joking about arriving to recordings in tracksuit bottoms and later ''pyjamas''. He distinctly sounds like he's not interested in changing at all. Cut to several years later, and he'd lost a distinct amount of weight by the time he did his 'Science' stand-up show.
22	** In one episode Ricky talks about how the only way to improve ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' is [[Film/TheMuppetChristmasCarol with Muppets]]. In 2014 he had a role in ''Film/MuppetsMostWanted''.
23	** In one episode, Karl comes up with the idea of a device that would enable doctors to feel patients' pain in order to get better diagnosis. In another he makes his infamous movie pitch about a person who has their late partner's consciousness implanted in their head. Both ideas were the basis of the first two segments in the ''Series/BlackMirror'' episode ''[[Recap/BlackMirrorBlackMuseum Black Museum]]''.
24	** One episode has Karl talking about a story he thought up which involves the ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleFilmSeries Mission Impossible]] films with the studio currently working on an eighth movie at a time when only [[Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol the fourth]] had just come out. And then in January 2019 it was announced that [[https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/01/15/two-mission-impossible-sequels-to-film-back-to-back-christopher-mcquarrie-returns-to-direct the seventh and eighth films would be filming back to back]].
25	** In Series 5 Episode 4, Steve talks about feeling guilty while watching a documentary about UsefulNotes/NaziGermany because he takes solace in the fact that since he's tall with blonde hair and blue eyes, he would have been alright, and might even be the perfect vision of a Nazi. Steve would later feature in ''Film/JojoRabbit'' as a Nazi officer.
26	** Karl has pitched several ideas for Hollywood movies on the show which involved a BrainTransplant (''Bryan’s Brain'' and ''A Love of Two Brains'') at the time Ricky and Steve mocked and dismissed them, however very similar ideas have since been used in the movie ''Film/Criminal2016'' starring Creator/KevinCostner.
27	* MemeticMutation: Karl's "I could eat a knob at night", as in "I could eat a penis in the night-time". Ricky and Stephen even called him on it and asked for the [[VoiceClipSong online music community to make music remixes with the soundbite.]] They happily complied.
28	** Karl Pilkington has a head like a fucking orange.
29	** Karl Pilkington presents: The Love of Two Brains.
30	** Turns out...little monkey fella.
31	* RetroactiveRecognition: The 29 November 2003 show featured a segment in which they played three homemade singles that were sent to them. The second song played was "Born Depressed" by Toffee. Years later, the song became known as the theme tune for ''WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}}'', and they took Ricky's advice about their band name, as they've since changed it to Drill Queen.
32	* SoBadItsGood: Most of Ricky's impressions of either accents or characters, but the defining example is his ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'' impersonations. They contain lines never said on the show in a voice that matches nothing like any heard on the show..... which is why it's so hilarious you will struggle to breathe.
33	** "[[{{Pun}} Ooh! Chimpanzee That!]]" for Monkey News and "Idon'tbelieveit He'sonlygoneandwrittenitdown!" for Karl's Diary are much funnier than a ''proper'' jingle would be.
34	** Nearly all of Karl's "Rockbusters" clues are so funny precisely because they're so convoluted and stupid, and frequently involve dodgy pronunciation to work (such as the Jamaican on the Titanic: "Christ, De Berg!", "His Last Sticker" being 'Elastica', and "De Trout Spinners" for 'Detroit Spinners').
35	* StrawmanHasAPoint: While it is quite common for Karl to indeed be talking shit, some viewers point out occasions where Karl does have a good argument or idea in mind, but the issue is that he's usually shut down by Ricky and Steve before he can get around to properly articulate them.
36	* TearJerker: It's actually quite upsetting hearing Karl live on air react to the news that he only got one GCSE, an E in History, when he knew he took more but failed to register for them, thus discounting them.
37	** It is highly debated by fans of what actually happened to Karl's exams, whether he didn't register prior or if Karl and his family were on many of their infamous holidays to Wales during Karl's childhood. Some fans have theorised that possibly Stephen and Ricky may have only contacted one exam board not realising there were multiple exam boards for different subjects or if the stories are to believed regarding Karl's time there (i.e. making children order from catalogs during classes), Karl's schools were too inept and unintentionally screwed him over by not registering him
38	*** Karl's reaction to Ricky and Stephen sharing the information is heartbreaking when he earnestly says "If you were my friends, you wouldn't have told me". Although Ricky and Steve try to convince him to retake the exam, Karl is audibly upset throughout the most of the show until they cheer him up with revisiting some of his school mates of Friends Reunited.
39	** Karl's trauma of the so-called "Victoria Plum" incident many Christmas ago is a sad little story which he claims to have shaped his personality since then as well as a Christmas party horror story in which his older brother ruined his most expensive gift whilst drunk.
40	** There has been many a concern about the treatment of Karl from over the many instances from the show. What starts off with little jabs and taunts through the XFM series' early days, soon turn into squeezing Karl's head, slapping him on air and firing champagne corks at his head, leading to an infamous [[https://youtu.be/EK4WylwP2WI?t=1201 XFM Show]] where after Ricky pretends to be offended at a small joke Karl makes after Karl refuses to play a pre-recorded sketch due to concerns from the management of XFM, Karl genuinely screams in anger "I hate him" many times. This lead to Karl putting his foot down about his own treatment on the show.
41	*** Not to mention the constant abuse he gets from Ricky calling him a "mong", "borderline retarded", "bald Manc twat", "head like a fucking orange", "looks like Mr. Spoon from Button Moon" among many other insults. However luckily Karl doesn't seem to mind the verbal abuse as he knows it's all in good faith, he even told one fan who messaged in concerned about Karl to don't worry about him.
42	** This moment, from when Ricky and Steve were first getting to know Karl, is depressing both because of what Karl says, and because one can hardly imagine them having such an affectionate conversation in the later shows:
43	--->'''Ricky:''' He's coming out of his shell, ain't he! He's happy Saturdays… He's miserable all week, and he's happy Saturdays, ain't he? Aww, look at him. It's like we get him weekends. And he's happy 'cause we sort of spoil him, don't we, and he has Jaffa Cakes and everything, we let him on the radio–
44	--->'''Steve:''' Then he has to go live with his step-mum again in the week. ''[Ricky laughs]''
45	--->'''Karl:''' You're the only ones who listen.
46	--->'''Ricky:''' Aww, really?
47	--->'''Steve:''' Your girlfriend does, doesn't she, I imagine?
48	--->'''Karl:''' No, she's been away for ages.
49	--->'''Ricky:''' But you know – you know – you know we love you, don't you? We're excited. We talk about you in the week, and we think you're great.
50	** It seems the trio have went their separate ways since An Idiot Abroad finished with Stephen Merchant not appearing in the final series of An Idiot Abroad (although it was possible he was away filming Hello Ladies at that time). There are constant rumours of bad blood between Smerch and Gervais (apparently due to Ricky resurrecting David Brent without consulting Steve for the Life On The Road movie which Steve had no part or say in) leaving the likelihood of any future reunions very uncertain for the most part. Ricky has claimed that he hasn't fell out with Stephen or Karl in a 2018 [[https://youtu.be/gk4befhBwAY?t=1794 NME interview]] whilst promoting his Netflix comedy special "Humanity", however a lot of fans seem to think otherwise due to Ricky's less frequent mentions of them as well as his 'uncomfortable' body language when asked.
51	*** Almost sadder is Karl's response to these speculations: In [[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4m8ca6/alrite_im_karl_pilkington_ask_me_anything/d3tdfea/ this Reddit AMA]], he says they haven't fallen out, but also says, "Can't say I’ve missed them that much though to be honest. One of the last times I saw Ricky he farted on my head so I'm not in a rush to meet with him anytime soon."
52	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: To the point that it provides quite a lot of unintentional comedy, with frequent mentions of popular in the day bands such as Music/TheDarkness, mobile phones being new-fangled, cassette and VHS tapes as prizes, the choice of music played on the show itself and frequent mentions of the Internet being new and complicated being the prime examples.
53	* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: The animated series. Those multiple TV-MA screens on {{Creator/HBO}} are there for a reason, folks.
54	** Ricky recalls a former classmate [[ComicallyMissingThePoint didn't see any kind of commentary in]] ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' and got annoyed with the class for discussing it.

Context YMMV / TheRickyGervaisShow