Ricky Gervais

I love The Office BBC. I don’t care what anyone says, it’s much better than the NBC version — which is also good, but not nearly as brilliant. I’ve been watching Ricky Gervais (who plays David Brent, the boss) and his new series called Extras, which airs on HBO. The basic premise is Ricky plays a movie extra with (of course) delusions of grandeur who’s trying to make it big. The show is also loaded with guest stars, including Kate Winslet, Ben Stiller, and Sam Jackson, to name a few. But, as always, the show-stealing aspect of the, uh, show is Gervais and co-writer Steven Merchant’s penchant for an awkward, socially inappropriate sense of humor.

Some of examples of has happened on just one particular episode of the show include:

* Ricky’s character Andy asking a girl out, while in a Nazi uniform.
* Andy making fun of a woman with cerebral palsy, who happens to be the girl’s sister. “Look at that one,” he says, pointing to the woman. “Is she pissed or mental?” (Which translated from British means, “Is she drunk or just mentally deficient?”)
* Andy lying about his religious beliefs to go out with said girl. Then at a meeting, lying about them to her priest. When asked by the priest who was his confirmation saint, Andy replies, “Oh, um … Saint … Bernard.”

You see, gentle reader, this is the type of humor Ricky has. Basically it makes you cringe. And then seeing everyone else’s reaction is the same shocked “Did he just say what I think he did…?”, you begin to chuckle. A lot.

So I blame Ricky Gervais when I write awful, awful things as comments on other people’s blogs.

First example - when my friend Trevor recently wrote a post regarding how he wanted to woo a co-worker who he suspected was racially intolerant, this is what I wrote:

As for your lovely bigoted bride, you should, Trevor, as a token of your affection, offer her the severed head of a child. A Negro child. On the note, put ‘One less mouth the white government has to feed. XOXOXO, Brother Trev-baby, Seneca District KKK.’ She’ll kiss you, I promise.

Second example: My tongue-in-cheek defense of former Atlanta Braves pitcher and supposedly former racist John Rocker, who earlier this year compared his struggle to those of Hank Aaron, who broke Babe Ruth’s career home run record, and Jackie Robinson, who was the first black man to play in the major leagues; both of whom incurred death threats for breaking those color barriers. My response:

It’s a shame people don’t just grow up and forgive the guy. Sure, he ran his mouth off a little bit. But who doesn’t? Nobody ever talked bad for six years about Ty Cobb and all his alleged racism. It’s not like Rocker lynched anybody or worked the gas showers at Auschwitz or something like that. In fact, if you go to John’s website at www.johnrocker.net, you’ll find that on it, there is a very endearing photo of John sitting with his precious 3 month-old kitten, “N—-r”. And although it doesn’t say on the website, I’m sure John recently adopted it from the local animal shelter and that it was already previous named that. And furthermore, you know what? John apparently also helps handicapped children, as evidenced by another picture on the webpage. So here’s the score. John Rocker: adopter of adorable, helpless kittens and lover of children, NOT racist homophobe dumb— who hates foreigners and New York City.

And finally a third example. When continuing my comment on Trevor’s blog, this is what I wrote:

…which reminds me of a great joke I want to tell at an open mic comedy show here: me, wearing lipstick, cutoff jean shorts, and one of those black caps with the visors: So I just moved here, but is it just me or are there a lot of FAGS here in San Francisco? It must just be me. (wrist goes limp, awkward silence ensues)

See?! The funny part isn’t in what I’m saying, but how awkward it makes everyone feel when I say it. It’s Ricky’s fault, honestly!