Ricky Gervais blessed the sitcom world with the creation of “The Office” and numerous other brilliant shows. But it seems he’s forgotten what made him great as he threw his longtime friend and comedy partner Stephen Merchant under the bus.
Comic genius and self-professed egomaniac Ricky Gervais is the creator of the international smash franchise “The Office” as well as critically acclaimed shows like “Derek“, “An Idiot Abroad,” “Extras” and four masterful stand up comedy tours. Doesn’t mean he’s not a prick.
Stephen Merchant came up with Ricky, first as the producer of his XFM radio show, then as a writing partner in The Office, the world famous podcast series and HBO’s “The Ricky Gervais Show”. Merchant recently landed his own television show, but you’d never know it to take a look at Ricky.
RickyGervais.com is the official personal site for Gervais. Unlike sites for other comedy legends like Bill Maher and Stephen Colbert, the site is not owned by a large corporation with very specific interests. If Ricky wants to promote something, believe me, it’s plugged faster than Auntie Nora’s face on Christmas day.
Ricky has plugged his books, tv shows, behind the scenes snippets for upcoming movies in which he has even bit roles, and absolutely everything Karl Pilkington has ever done.
So why does Karl Pilkington’s cleverly inane ramblings get full mention while Merchant’s quirkly, insightful show draw narry a mention? Well the cynic in me would guess it’s because Gervais makes as much money as Pilkington on every project, if not more, and Merchant’s “Hello Ladies” is a wholly independent project.
Ricky Gervais has a net worth estimated at $80 million, but he can’t spare a mention for his partner in crime who undeniably helped him reach his pinnacle?
When I go to RickyGervais.com, I don’t go to see Ricky Gervais, but rather the whole package. I go to see Ricky Gervais, Karl Pilkington, and yes, even (if not especially) Stephen Merchant.
Maybe Ricky doesn’t like the show and doesn’t want to tarnish his brand by endorsing it. Unlikely, the show’s briliant. Maybe he wanted a taste of the action and he’s bitter about it, but with $80 million in the bank, you’re getting a bit greedy if that’s the case. Or maybe Ricky has just outgrown Merchant, which would be a genuine tragedy since they’re so damn good when they share the screen.
Gervais has enough space to show clips from The Muppets that aren’t even going to be in the movie, but he can’t review, link or mention the show on his site. I checked the Ricky Gervais Twitter feed and apparently he can’t even drop a 10-second Tweet about the show.
An endorsement from Ricky Gervais can literally make or break a show that’s teetering on the edge, and all new shows are teetering on the edge.
I get it, he’s rich and I’m just a critic. Fair enough. But I support my friends and my colleagues who make me successful, even when there’s no payday in it for me.
For those of you reading this who are Ricky Gervais, come on man, do the right thing. For the rest of you, check out Hello Ladies Sundays at 10:30pm on HBO. Tell them Glossy News sent you. They can’t hear you, usually, so you have to shout it especially loudly at your television.
moderate My nuts fags
Dexter Sinistri You are a Fucking Idiot
Dan Kanharn you do not know if they both sit in the office together or not their is clearly a fallout otheriwse stephen and ricky wouldn't make independent shows.
Dan Kanharn they have not made any public appearance together for a while and why do they not follow each other on twitter ?
I guess the fact they share the same office does ot mean anything lol?
What a hack article based on no facts lol.
It's wholly possible that stephen wants to do it independent of Ricky. Maybe he doesn't want endorsement.
I just checked on twitter both ricky and merchannt don't follow each other so there is certainly some rift among them
This piece is total bull. As are the comments. Maybe Stephen Merchant doesn’t want to always be Ricky Gervais’ ‘partner in crime’, and wants something he does to be successful without Ricky having to promote it. And if anything, hasn’t Ricky done enough? If Steve was initially his producer, Ricky was already the ‘star’, then I’m assuming it was Ricky who invited him in to be on the show in the first place and launched his career.
Quite frankly folks, I wouldn’t even waste time commenting on this article. Sinistri himself is obviously as vain as Gervais himself (“Gervais”- what sort of a name is that for a pommy?)
Spend your time reading other articles…..like mine!
Let’s all sing together now: “He’s…so…vain! I bet he thinks this letters about him……”
@Daniel – “Ricky and Stephen are currently working on the new Life’s Too Short special, together, as a team, in partnership.”
Right, no shit. That’s because Ricky makes money off that project. But when it comes to Merchant’s “Hello Ladies” or Pilkington’s “The Moaning of Life” Gervais is silent… why? Because he doesn’t make money off those projects, so to hell with them.
Catch up, son. Read the article before spewing silliness.
What? How can you commentators talk so surely about things you couldn’t possibly know unless you actually knew Stephen and Ricky personally? You embellish more than Karl does when he tells us about monkeys.
Is this article a joke? Ricky and Stephen are currently working on the new Life’s Too Short special, together, as a team, in partnership. Also, for somebody who makes their living using words, writing, confusing “your” and “you’re” is fucking drab.
Ugh. Anyone who wants to hear the best of their comedy improv should check out their brilliant Xfm show. It was razor sharp. The larger the audience the damper it becomes unfortunately. That will never change.
You can see why they might have fallen out , Gervais has really become his character Andy Millman. He is completley egotistical , not even promoting Karls new show , and relentlessly and repetitivley promoting ‘Derek’ on his Twitter , again and again.
Ricky and Stephen have clearly fallen out. That is why he hasn’t given the show a mention. That is why they never talk about each other or do shows together anymore. They even ended ‘Life’s Too Short’ abruptly because of their feud it seems.
I’m confused. This is a satire site, right? Is suggesting ‘Hello Ladies’ is a good show the joke here? This is very poorly done.