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Stephen Merchant takes swipe at Ricky Gervais' Afterlife(?)

Gawge

Gawge

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,628
Found this tweet amusing:



Which seems to clearly be a dig at Afterlife. I don't think you can say this is an innocent coincidence.

I haven't personally seen Afterlife (not interested in Gervais of the last decade or so), but from what others are saying, and from the trailers - it seems to me clearly a dig. Does this add to rumours that the two have fallen out more than just the 'drifted apart' messages which both Gervais and Merchant have said in interviews over recent years.
 

JehutyRunner

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,140
Hard to give a shit about Gervais when he's an unfunny fuck. Whereas Merchant, although lost his a touch bit recently, has been the funnier of the two. Put it like this, I can't think of one Gervais standout moment or performance I cared for him. Merchant in Portal 2 still stands as the single greatest comedy performance in a game ever, IMO.
 
Ravelle

Ravelle

Member
Oct 31, 2017
17,795
I liked Afterlife but Garvais had nobody to play off on, it was basically just him being him.
 
Vern

Vern

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
5,097
JehutyRunner said:
Hard to give a shit about Gervais when he's an unfunny fuck. Whereas Merchant, although lost his a touch bit recently, has been the funnier of the two. Put it like this, I can't think of one Gervais standout moment or performance I cared for him. Merchant in Portal 2 still stands as the single greatest comedy performance in a game ever, IMO.
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the office?
 
Indy in the Fridge

Indy in the Fridge

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
15,278
Except Afterlife is a fantastic show and Gervais actually plays a compelling character. Yeah, it's about a dude who can't move on after his wife's death. That's been the whole drive for 2 seasons.
 
Disco

Disco

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,451
Merchants solo stuff aint much to write home about either tbh. And also thats a very common trope in plenty of media so its hard to gauge if thats shade on his former partner or not

Also man Office and Extras were some of the best comedy television ever. Cringe humor gold. The podcast was GOAT too
 
Astro Cat

Astro Cat

Member
Mar 29, 2019
7,745
I loved their podcast back in the day but I think since Extra's Gervais has lost it. Merchant is still amazing in Hello Ladies and other non Gervais stuff.
 
Wackamole

Wackamole

Member
Oct 27, 2017
16,935
So you've never seen it but based on what people have said to you about the show these really specific things make you think about that show?
Suuure Jan, haha.
 
Memento Mori

Memento Mori

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,865
If you listen to the original XFM shows, you can tell Gervais irritated Merchant then. The work they made together was good though until Life's Too Short.
 
Gibson

Gibson

Member
Oct 29, 2017
2,270
I mean, he'd have a point if that's all Afterlife did to express that inability to move on, but it's not. The whole story is about it, his whole character is shaped by it (and his inability to form meaningful relationships)
 
OP
OP
Gawge

Gawge

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,628
John Dunbar said:
what has merchant done on his own other than hello, ladies? that's the only thing i've seen from him and it's not very good.
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Indy in the Fridge said:
he voiced that one video game character 10 years ago
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To be fair he wrote, directed and played a role in Fighting with my Family last year, which I thought was a pretty good film.

Also his role in Jo Jo Rabbit, and that Christmas Special (sort of like Jingle All The Way) from a year or two back was very good.
 

Absolute

Banned
Nov 6, 2017
2,090
I have not particularly liked a lot of gervais's work but afterlife is better than anything merchant has done solo so.

I think you are reading too much into a light hearted tweet that Gervais would probably find funny.
 
Cosmonaut X

Cosmonaut X

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,947
Gervais was enormously unfunny on The 11 O'Clock Show, where I first saw him, and I've always been amazed that he was able to turn early crap like that and Meet Ricky Gervais into a long and relatively successful career. IMO he was lucky to have Merchant, Ash Atalla, Mackenzie Crook, Lucy Davis, Ashley Jensen et al around him on The Office and Extras, and I think the reason those series will stand up relatively well after years is because they were ensemble projects with groups of far more talented performers. The most generous thing I could say about Gervais is that he's a performer who needs constraints and input from others to give his best.
 
Kyuuji

Kyuuji

The Favonius Fox
Member
Nov 8, 2017
32,155
Like you I've not seen it so can't say but I hope so.

Gervais is a standout piece of shit that 🤞 will one day crash and burn out of grace.
 
shnurgleton

shnurgleton

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,864
Boston
Vern said:
alright. But that was a standout role. He was amazing in it, completely hilarious from start to finish. Best sitcom ever. It's no surprise he can't move on.
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The Office UK was a mean-spirited grey-tinged slog that not only looked like but felt like work from start to finish. If that was his pinnacle I fear his lesser works
 
nekkid

nekkid

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
21,823
ThatLeadingAllosaurus-size_restricted.gif
 
Dennis8K

Dennis8K

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,161
I don't know what their relationship is currently but seems like he is taking the piss because Gervais used a bunch of cliches. Seems like pretty mild ribbing.
 
Vern

Vern

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
5,097
shnurgleton said:
The Office UK was a mean-spirited grey-tinged slog that not only looked like but felt like work from start to finish. If that was his pinnacle I fear his lesser works
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Grey as in it wasn't colorful or is that a metaphor I don't understand? Anyway, it was hilarious and not mean spirited at all. It had tons of heart.
 
LeBigMac

LeBigMac

Member
Oct 26, 2017
609
shnurgleton said:
The Office UK was a mean-spirited grey-tinged slog that not only looked like but felt like work from start to finish. If that was his pinnacle I fear his lesser works
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The original office was a masterpiece that had a huge impact on TV comedy.

Nothing either Merchant or Gervais have done since has even come close. All their solo efforts have been pretty poor to be honest.
 
Wackamole

Wackamole

Member
Oct 27, 2017
16,935
Gawge said:
Also his role in Jo Jo Rabbit,
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I need to watch that movie again some time. Loved it. And a great role by Merchant.

shnurgleton said:
The Office UK was a mean-spirited grey-tinged slog that not only looked like but felt like work from start to finish. If that was his pinnacle I fear his lesser works
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Wow, all these hottakes, lol. This forum houses some of the most insincere people. Either that or you really watched it in the wrong way.
 
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Deleted member 60582

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 12, 2019
2,152
He's ribbing him, if he's even really referencing After Life. It's such a common trope. Either way, this is the type of thing Gervais would laugh about.

Don't really see the need to compare their careers either, as both Hello Ladies and After Life are brilliant shows. Karl Pilkington is also out there making surprisingly good stuff with Sick Of It.
 
Excuse me

Excuse me

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,020
I haven't seen much Merchant's solo stuff except for the Hello Ladies and it was terrible. I have only seen clips from Afterlife and it seemed good. But beyond that it seems like the show has strong ratings and good reviews, so Gervais seems to be more then able to work without Merchant.

But Merchant was most def the funniest guy on the animated The Ricky Gervais Show.
 
bodyofanamerican

bodyofanamerican

Member
Oct 25, 2017
610
I have no idea if this is a swipe at Ricky or not, and would definitely be curious to hear what the catalyst for their professional split was, but all I know is the Office and Extras, despite all the cynicism and awkwardness, had such, I dunno, optimism about people at their core? I cried at both finales, and both Brent telling Finchy to fuck off, and Andy's monologue were just absolutely perfect, and blended the both of their personalities together. It's just such a bummer that that doesn't exist anymore.

Also, if I had to pick, I find Steve's sense of humor and drier delivery much funnier than Rick.
 
AllThingsPurple

AllThingsPurple

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,548
UK
The Office and Extras were fantastic.

I enjoyed Afterlife, not as good as the above but its pretty different type of show.

I hated Derek.
 
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