EminemBase....

[EminemBase]

Also of course the scene where he begs for his job back. Which I honestly mean, is one of the best dramatic acting scenes I've ever seen. So, whilst even Gervais himself sort of somewhat shrug Brent off as a comedy figure and Tim and Dawn as the real spirit to the show... I mean, Brent was going downhill in many ways and trying to cling on too. I always watched for Brent.

Yeah, I think it's perfect how they make Brent to be an idiot but not someone the audience will dislike (like Lee or Finchy). His idiotic persona only adds to the sympathy you feel for him during the Xmas episode (well, I do anyway). The scene where he's begging for his job is the perfect leveller for what's to come, as it's the most obvious moment (there are of course smaller moments) where his true side, behind his 'boss' persona, comes out.

Him telling Finchy to fuck off is so brilliant, especially as it's the same time that Neil becomes really dislikeable, so it's almost a double whammy.

Aw yeah, I wouldn't even hate Brent in real life.

Even though I would find him embarrassing, he's still always only trying to fit in. I mean sometimes he does have some childish egotism but generally speaking, he just wants to be liked and he doesn't quite know how, and tries too hard.

Like Gervais himself said, it's people like Finchy who are the real bastards. I hate people like that. They're predictable and cliche but you can't call them out on it as every other guy around them is just sucking their cock so it's a big macho fest.

And yeah like you say, when he tells him to fuck off... that was a genuinely chilling moment. It's such brilliance, such a moment of self-awareness. So satisfying.

[EminemBase]

^ Yeah well I'm disappointed by his... lack of maturity and intelligence when it comes to criticism. I used to think Gervais was smarter than he was.

He has the concepts and potential to be as smart as he 'seems' to be but in practice, isn't.

As... he basically dismisses all critics as pointless sometimes but then quotes critics for his DVD covers and also on his website. And I would have no problem with this as I don't agree that all critics are pointless, I think good criticism has its place. But it's his hypocrisy which is annoying.

So he accepts any positive criticism and dismisses ANY negative criticism as jealousy or envy which is really fucking childish, especially for a man of his intellect. In some cases he's right but to whitewash anybody who doesn't agree he's brilliant as that, is absurd. And deluded.

Also, notice the fact he only addresses very weak criticism of his work. I haven't seen him address any reviews of Life's Too Short. He's been addressing the 'controversy' about the taboo since he can easily defend that (even though he / Warick, whether they admit it / know it or not, are just utilizing cheap dwarf jokes and passing it off as something more sophisticated). I don't find it in any way offensive, I yawn at the suggestion of offence, nothing offends me. It's just weak. I understand he's highlighting an awkward subject for some but it's being done in simplistic ways, Gervais seems to think it's daring or edgy. He says he doesn't like 'safe' comedy, well... in this era of hyper-realism and taboo-raising, the material they're doing is actually safe. And easy.

I haven't seen him address a single serious review of the show though. He hasn't been able to gloat about positive ones as there haven't been any lmao. But I've read some of the serious reviews and I haven't seen hardly one unfair or 'for its own sake' slagging of the show. Most have been from genuine fans of him / Merchant and voicing their disappointment and basically all the same concerns that every single Gervais fan I've read has so far mentioned.

Fact that Davis is a mini-Brent, and not a very good one. The fact that some of the scenes are re-hashes and for me... it's just not funny. I was actually cringing (genuinely) at how UNFUNNY the Johnny Depp material was, with the toilet etc. it was actually painful. But, not in the way that Gervais intended, it was painful because it felt flat and wasn't working.

It really seems like LTS is going to be the dud in his career. The Invention of Lying was a major misstep, but this is TV, and with Merchant, and a follow up to two of the greatest sitcoms ever so, this is a lot more noticeable.

I honestly believe that Gervais just wanted to do more Extras for the sake of utilizing more guest stars (as he said how gutted he was with the people coming up to him after it ended) but didn't have the balls to try a third series. So did this. As this is basically Extras, with a dwarf.

[EminemBase]

^ I actually do think the show is terrible.

I don't just think it's 'average Gervais material'... as that's what I consider some of Science for example. I actually think Life's Too Short is terrible 'comedy'. Some of it is anti-funny to me, it just feels flat and dead, it doesn't crackle or amuse me in a natural sense. Feels bizarre.

I've genuinely cringed at how bad some of it is. This is Gervais' "Just Lose It" moment.

Only saving grace for me is the scenes with Gervais and Merchant in. Those scenes, so far, have been funny. But that's it. The rest of the episode(s) then feel embarrassing.

[B.A.D.]

hmm... I think the show is fucking Brilliant tbh... I've seen extras and the office and yeah, its obviously not as good, but its on the standards

[EminemBase]

hmm... I think the show is fucking Brilliant tbh... I've seen extras and the office and yeah, its obviously not as good, but its on the standards

It's not that I don't think it's not as good, it's just bad.

It's because Warick is too much like Brent. Millman is more different from Brent than Davis is, and he's played by the same actor!

Davis is a mini-Brent, and the way he speaks is so alike that it's near-impossible (for me at least, and I've found many others) to simply enjoy it for what it is, and it feels like a knock-off.

Other than that I've just found the comedy falling flat for me. It's just off...

[MikeNUFC]

Agreed with Base. I pretty much given up on it now. Doubt I'll watch any of the rest of the series.

David Brent without the depth is completely and utterly pointless. Rehashed a character and made it 100 times worse.

I thought they may have fleshed Warwick's character out after the first episode but obviously I was wrong. Premise/concept isn't the worst, but the execution is just unoriginal and not funny. I don't feel anything for any of the characters either, which is a must in comedy for me.

[EminemBase]

^ I watched episodes 3, 4 and 5 and they all got progressively better.

I'd say the latest episode is the best so far and in parts, quite good.

I think Davis is slowly growing into that character as the series progresses. He's not exactly like Brent as Brent lacked self-awareness and Brent also wasn't as mean in the sense, he was quite happy to join in as long as he could be a part of what was going on.

Where as Davis wants to always be king. It's just the delivery of the dialogue.

Gervais needs to just write funnier dialogue and stop relying on delivery. The constant pausing and restarting of sentences etc. it's way too easy, and predictable now.

[EminemBase]

Gervais does have some awesome quotes. Surprised he never used them in his stand-up:

"Science doesn’t concern itself with the non-existence of something. The periodic table of imaginary things would be too big for a classroom- infinitely big in fact, and rather pointless."

"Saying atheism is a belief system is like saying not going skiing is a hobby."

Last one is a brilliant analogy.

Yeah that second one is great, though I find these pretty easy to come up with.

Seems like... once somebody is a public figure especially in a field concerning intellect and, as Gervais has rightly said, comedy is an intellectual pursuit... feels as if, if they say anything approaching wit or sense they get overly praised for it.

He should definitely take a page from Larry David's book with Curb and rely more on plot structure and, ideas, and actual dialogue now I think though. Rather than just, delivery. Which, he doesn't just rely on that of course, they do work funny ideas and plots into these episodes...

But, far too much stock is placed on delivery of lines. Not that I dislike detail in that area, I love it in fact, but the 'Gervais delivery' is SO commonplace after Office and Extras that it just feels redundant and faintly embarrassing now when he tries to replicate it, again.