| The Ricky Gervais Show | |
|---|---|
 The title card of the series, drawn in the show's classicHanna-Barbera-like style, showingRicky Gervais | |
| Genre | Cartoon Comedy Podcast |
| Created by | Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant Karl Pilkington |
| Directed by | Craig Kellman (season 1) Dan Fraga (seasons 2–3) |
| Voices of | Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant Karl Pilkington |
| Composer | Glyn Hughes |
| Country of origin | United States United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 39(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant Karl Pilkington Glyn Hughes Bob Higgins Lisa Ullmann Steve Patrick (seasons 2–3) |
| Producers | Michelle Papandrew (season 1) Michelle Wilson (season 2) Pamela Arseneau (season 3) |
| Editors | Damon P. Yoches (season 1) Mattaniah Adams (seasons 2–3) |
| Running time | 21–27 minutes |
| Production companies | Wildbrain Entertainment Media Rights Capital HBO Entertainment |
| Original release | |
| Network | HBO (United States) Channel 4/E4 (United Kingdom) |
| Release | 19 February 2010 (2010-02-19) – 13 July 2012 (2012-07-13) |
The Ricky Gervais Show is an animated comedy television series produced for and broadcast byHBO andChannel 4.[1] The series is an animated version of the popular audiopodcasts andaudiobooks ofthe same name, which featureRicky Gervais,Stephen Merchant (creators ofThe Office andExtras) along with colleague and friendKarl Pilkington, talking about various subjects behind the microphone. The TV series consists of past audio recordings of these unscripted "pointless conversations," with animation drawn in a style similar to classic eraHanna-Barbera cartoons,[2][3] presenting jokes and situations in a literal context.
The animatedRicky Gervais Show aired39 episodes across three series starting in 2010. There were some plans for a possible fourth series which would have used newly recorded audio,[4][5][6] but this was shelved in June 2012.[7] Series 3 ofThe Ricky Gervais Show premiered on 20 April 2012 on HBO, and on 8 May 2012 onE4.[8][9]
After the first series ofThe Office was broadcast in 2001, creatorsRicky Gervais andStephen Merchant returned to local radio stationXFM London, where they used to host their own radio show.[10][11] For this revival ofThe Ricky Gervais Show,Karl Pilkington worked asradio producer, and steadily became a more and more important part of the show. After years of the three doing the radio show, in 2005, they started doing a series of freepodcasts, and later paidaudiobooks, available to download on the Internet. TheShow consistently ranked as the number one podcast in the world and previously held theGuinness World Record as the most downloaded podcast ever[10] with over 300 million downloads as of March 2011[update].[12]
Discussions about the animated series began in 2008; Gervais first mentioned the project on his blog in November 2008.[13] Earlier collaborations with HBO include the co-production of the Gervais/Merchant seriesExtras together with theBBC, as well as Gervais'sOut of Englandstand-up comedy special. The first preview clip of the series was shown onLate Show with David Letterman, in November 2009.[14][15]
The episode "Knob at Night" was nominated for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) at the62nd Primetime Emmy Awards.
| Series | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 13 | 19 February 2010 (2010-02-19) | 21 May 2010 (2010-05-21) | |
| 2 | 13 | 14 January 2011 (2011-01-14) | 15 April 2011 (2011-04-15) | |
| 3 | 13 | 20 April 2012 (2012-04-20) | 13 July 2012 (2012-07-13) | |
Each season ofThe Ricky Gervais Show consists of 13 episodes. The series premiered in the United States on 19 February 2010 onHBO. The second season started on 14 January 2011. and the third on 20 April 2012. In the United Kingdom, the series premiered on 23 April 2010 onChannel 4.[16] The first season was shown onChannel 4, with the following seasons airing on its counterpart,E4 first. Though a co-production, Channel 4 air HBO's edit rather than making their own with their own name in the credits.
The first season was released onregion 2 DVD on 19 July 2010.[2] The region 1 (North American) DVD was released on 4 January 2011.[17] Extras on the region 1 release include a short piece of animation created for the Channel 4 Comedy Gala, and thestoryboard version of episode 3, "Charity", showing what the animation looks in the middle of production.[17][18] The region 2 DVD contains all these, along with a number of videos where the three friends chat, as well as original HBO commercials and trailers for the show.[19][20]
The Series 2 DVD had initially been made available only throughWarner Archive as a "made-to-order" DVD (meaning the disc is only produced once it is ordered).[21] The three-disc set includes as extras storyboard versions of Episodes 8 ("Future") and 13 ("Munchies"), two of the HBO promotional interviews with Ricky Gervais, and a two-question interview of all three stars. The second series was eventually given a wide release on 25 June 2012 in the UK.
The Series 3 DVD was released in April 2013.
All three seasons can be purchased throughAmazon Prime in HD.
In June 2012, Ricky Gervais stated on his blog that he was not sure whether there would be a fourth season, because he felt that he had used up all the good material. However, the series had not been ended for certain.
"I think the show has steadily grown in both quality and popularity and I'd love to go out on a high so to speak. My worry is that as we've used up all the best material we'd have to record hours and hours of new stuff and it might ruin the naivety of the whole thing. Never say never though, likeThe Office. But certainly for now."[8]
In July 2012, Ricky Gervais stated on Twitter that the third season ofThe Ricky Gervais Show would be the last:
"Bad news: LastRicky Gervais Show tonight on E4."[22]
[...] apparently The Ricky Gervais Show has been downloaded over 300 million times.
The Ricky Gervais Show Audiobooks are to be made into an animated series for American TV.
Did Letterman last night and he showed the world premiere of a clip of the animation.