I’ve been a fan of Ricky Gervais since I discovered The Office maybe four or more years ago. Some time after The Office he started a free podcast with his cohort Stephen Merchant and studio engineer Karl Pilkington. Much of the podcast focused on Ricky’s fascination with Pilkington’s spherical skull and rather unique logic and anti-wisdom.
Now HBO is releasing the podcast in cartoon form. The cartoon style is somewhere between the Flintstones and a restrained Ren & Stimpy. You should be able to preview the first episode by subscribing to HBO’s podcast for the show (www.hbo.com/podcasts/the_ricky_gervais_show/podcast.xml). I’ve seen similar cartoons, where fans use Flash to animate bits from radio shows, but this is well polished.
I found the cartoon adaptation just as funny as the original podcast; Pilkington’s bizarre sense of society, science, and history lend well to the vignettes and interludes that break up the main cartoon of the 3 guys at a desk (which would get boring quickly). The animations of Karl as Fred Flintstone and the astronaut monkey were hilarious. It’s well worth watching if you’re a fan of Gervais, and worth trying out if you’re either an animation or comedy fan. Good job Gervais and HBO.
Visit Ricky’s site or HBO for more info.
