Wherein Karl worries about the proctology

Friday's Ricky Gervais Show isn't among the season's best, but hey, even a bad Gervais episode still beats the snot out of other underachieving show. (I'm looking in your direction, The Office and Saturday Night Live.)

While there is no more Monkey News - Karl ended the segment the previous week by telling the story of a chimp eye doctor, a truly great way to end it - they have adjusted by expanding his notebook feature and the general conversation segments. Both remain outstanding. This week, Karl was worried about dying during a proctology exam, and thus having to have his doctor's hand up his anus throughout eternity as a ghost. They also talked about a germ that eats chocolate. Good times!

Really, I don't have much else to say about the show. It is definitely an acquired taste; you have to like animation and podcasts. And if you like The Ricky Gervais Show, then do yourself a favor and check out the Loveline cartoons. They are along the same lines, and just as incredible, although there are only four of them.

Grade: A-

Hey, just to clarify, The Ricky Gervais Show is still incredible

Where DOES the time go? It seems like just yesterday I was talking about how incredible The Ricky Gervais Show is, but in actuality, it was more than a month ago! Heavens! That is as nuts as believing that there is a dishwasher on Mars.

Well, to clear up any confusion, the show is still ridiculously funny. In fact, I have no idea why HBO buries it on Friday nights, since it is one of the shows I look forward to every week. It is just great, up there with Archer and Community in terms of consistency. I admit that the format - basically, animated segments to an audio podcast - isn't for everyone. But I find Karl's immense stupidity so appealing.

Case in point: He now keeps a diary, which Ricky and Steve have been reading for the past three or four shows. Karl does have some oddly decent insights in the diary, but for the most part, it is another great opportunity for Ricky and Steve to mock him. The show's other features, like Monkey News and Listener E-mail, are still around, so if you liked the show in the past, just realize it has gotten even better. I mean, how can you beat Karl's "true story" about a chimp performing eye surgery?

Grade: A+

TV Review: Karl Pilkington and Bruce Willis make Ricky great

If Karl Pilkington from The Ricky Gervais Show could be anyone from the annals of history, living or dead, who would he be? Why, Bruce Willis, of course.

I mean, you had doubts? This is, after all, a guy who thought the phrase "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" referred to the period in time when people moved out of caves and into glass houses, literally. His stupidity really has no bounds, which means it is endlessly ridiculed by Stephen and Ricky for our benefit.

Outside of wanting to be Bruce Willis, Karl also revealed that one time, to see what it would be like to live without a body part, he tried to wash the dishes without using his thumbs. Of course, while he was doing this, he spotted a neighbor across the way in the buff. So to make things even, he revealed his butt to her, as his girlfriend in the other room asked him what he was doing.

... It's kind of hard to describe why this is all so great. Sorry. However, if you have any appreciation at all for British humor, then you need to be watching this.

Grade: A+

TV Review: Oh, you funny English tarts!

Stephen, Ricky and Karl, best of friends.

Following the suggestions of others, I finally gave The Ricky Gervais Show a chance, and boy, am I glad I did! It airs on HBO, and it is essentially an animated version of his podcast. It features him, his writing buddy Stephen Merchant, and this dumb, boring and hilarious producer named Karl Pilkington.

Karl is stupid. Really, really stupid. Like, disgustingly stupid. On one of the initial three episodes, he talks about how he considers sex something to do when there isn't anything good on the telly. (Note: All three are British, so speaking as a piggish, thuggish American, I enjoy their heavy accents immensely. Also, Gervais has the most wonderful laugh – It sounds like he is in the death throes of a vicious tickle.)

By far, my favorite skit shown on the show so far has been Karl reading an e-mail from a radio listener about the troubles faced by a Russian television station. They kept cutting back staff, until finally, they realized that they had nobody to put on-air. At this point, Karl says they noticed a monkey “kickin' about the studio” and decided to put him on the air. From there, hilarity ensues as Karl tells more details of the story, and Stephen and Ricky viciously tear him apart.

In fact, a regular segment of the show is Monkey News, which just features Karl or Ricky recounting news about monkeys or chimpanzees or anything of that sort. In addition to the news story about the monkey newscaster, Karl also believes that the first monkey in space was trained via a banana dispenser to steer the shuttle “left” to the Moon.

Anyway – I really heart the show. The three episodes I've seen, about 70 minutes in all, have been high quality. I think the show only has a six-episode run for now, and I'm hoping HBO extends it for the future, since I'm sure there is tons of archive podcast footage for them to draw from for the show. Also, a bit from the show gave me a great idea for a hypothetical entry for 7 p.m., and you'll know it when you see it.

Grade: A+