The first animated episode of the world-famous podcasts will be screened on Friday, but can it improve on the original? asks Emma McAlpine.
They're back! Well sort of. As you may have heard, The Ricky Gervais Show has been resurrected from the land of dead podcasts (Adam and Joe why hast thou forsaken us?!) and turned into a Hannah Barbera-style cartoon by the American network HBO.
Originally aired on XFM Radio between 2001-2005, it switched over to an audio book format on The Guardian's website and became the most downloaded podcast in the world, appearing in the 2007 Guinness World Records. The show featured random conversations between Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and gullible producer Karl Pilkington on topics ranging from facial disfigurement to monkeys in space. 'Head like an orange' Pilkington frquently endured ribbing from the other two and the bullying format was such a success it was replicated in other podcasts like the Russell Brand and Ray Peacock shows.
Each of the TV versions of The Ricky Gervais Show is 22 minutes long and have been edited from the original half-hour podcasts. As Gervais stated in a press junket this is "the third time we've been paid for this shit...it's money for old rope". He ain't wrong. But considering HBO approached him with the idea and the amount of work put in on his part amounts to zilch, who can blame him for giving it the green light?
But is the animated version better? Personally, I watch a lot of TV but I really treasure the times when I've got a long journey ahead of me and I can switch on a podcast or the radio and be transported into the world of the speaker; whether it's listening to the greatest speeches in history or Adam and Joe giggling themselves stupid in the 'Big British Castle'. We're so over-stimulated these days - it's quite nice to use your imagination and concentrate on what's being said, rather than get distracted by how Karl Pilkington's head looks like a golfball. On the other hand he often goes off at such random tangents during these conversations, his thoughts in cartoon might well be funnier than my imagination.
What do you think?
The Ricky Gervais Show will be aired on Channel 4 on Friday 23rd April at 10:30pm.
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