Ricky Gervais Live - Animals [2003]

There's something of Eddie Izzard's style in Gervais's approach, especially noticeable when he dissects the Biblical Genesis story for its absurdities; and he has also learned lessons from the father of his Office co-star Lucy Davis, Jasper Carrott. In the best segment, and one that's pure Carrott Confidential, Gervais reads out genuine animal "facts" from a website and comments gleefully upon them. Although his range is limited--he's neither an impressionist nor a mimic--Gervais gets by on a mixture of easygoing charm and bare-faced cheek, which in a short show of about an hour is all he needs to keep everyone laughing. --Mark Walker

Gervais has a unique and hilairious way to look at the Animal Kingdom and he shares it with us which had me in stitches from the moment the curtain went up. I was nearly falling off my seat when he gave his view on Mermaids but the whole thing had me unable to breathe through laughing so much. If you were unlucky enough to miss this then you must get it on DVD, especially if you are a big fan of The Office.

Thankfully Gervais has promised he'll do more stand up as he wants to get better- if this isn't his best then I can't wait to see what is.


Live   October 1, 2003
15 out of 34 found this review helpful

I've seen this show when he did it live, it is hilarious. The opening had me in pain before he even hit the stage! He had very very weird facts but generally very funny DVD i expect!


Not the classic some would claim it to be   December 12, 2003
Ian Johns (Bracknell, Berkshire United Kingdom)
12 out of 18 found this review helpful

I am an absolute devotee of The Office and someone who finds Ricky Gervais a laugh in interviews. I also like his "don't give a toss" attitude. Therefore, I really wanted to like this performance. However, I found it, at best, hit and miss. Some of the material is hilarious, for example, the bit about the snake in the Garden of Eden and RG's delivery in this part is fantastic. However, in other parts I just found the material quite dull and RG does not have the energy or delivery skills of, say, Billy Connolly, to get the most out of material which is not inherently that funny. So, not a complete duffer but I think overall 3 stars may actually be a generous award.


Good - not great... but a must if you're a fan of The Office   December 31, 2003
11 out of 16 found this review helpful

As a fan of The Office i simply had to get this. Even watching Ricky Gervais accepting/awarding an award cracks me up so as soon as this came out i bought it.

Now, on here, i've noticed that Ricky's stand up performance has been compared to that of Peter Kay's. This is slightly unfair seeing as the boy Kay is a bit of an old hand at this whereas this effort from Ricky Gervais is one of his first attempts at doing such a show.

I would love to come on and rave about how great this show is and how he doesn't put a foot wrong simply out of respect and admiration for the man and what he's achieved in such a short space of time. But that wouldn't be fair to anyone thinking of buying this and reading this review to help make a decision on whether to part with the cash for it.

In parts he appears quite nervous and it's kind of like he's used the subject of a 'lecture on Animals' so that he has something of reference too in case he loses his way during the show. This by no means makes it a bad show, but it just doesn't have the spontanaeity that a general stand up show would normally have.

In the main this dvd is very funny but i get the feeling that if Ricky Gervais was slightly more confident in himself as a stand up this could have been even better. Saying that, if stand up is an avenue that Gervais chooses to stick with then you just know he's going to work on it to the point that by the time it next comes about he'll be unbelievably great.

All in all a jolly good, if not great, show/dvd (though i've yet to watch the extra's). A definite must if you're a fan of The Office.