Andy becomes fast friends with Jonathan Ross after making his first chat show appearance. The mother of an ill fan forces him to come and visit her boy at the hospital, so Andy takes Maggie ... Read allAndy becomes fast friends with Jonathan Ross after making his first chat show appearance. The mother of an ill fan forces him to come and visit her boy at the hospital, so Andy takes Maggie along. Darren is given an ultimatum: arrange a meeting with Robert De Niro or get fired.Andy becomes fast friends with Jonathan Ross after making his first chat show appearance. The mother of an ill fan forces him to come and visit her boy at the hospital, so Andy takes Maggie along. Darren is given an ultimatum: arrange a meeting with Robert De Niro or get fired.
- Extra
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis episode was written on the basis that Robert De Niro had tentatively expressed interest in appearing in the series, but when filming had started the producers had not actually pinned him down to a filming date. During one scene Ricky Gervais jokingly did a couple of takes saying de Niro's name with a coffee cup in front of his face so that they could dub different actors' names in if necessary.
- GoofsWhilst waiting for Andy, Darren asks Robert De Niro if he'd ever driven a Taxi for real, to which he replies no. Actually Robert De Niro drove a real taxi for a month in preparation for 'Taxi Driver'.
- Quotes
Darren Lamb: So what time would be ther right now?
Andy Millman: Right, It's four o' clock here so... eight hours
Darren Lamb: [counting with his fingers] Five, Six...
Andy Millman: No, you're going up
Darren Lamb: [changes his hand and do exactly the same] Five, Six...
Andy Millman: You still Going up!Look. It's four o' clock, so eight hours... eight o' clock
Darren Lamb: That's four hours ahead.
Andy Millman: In the morning!
Darren Lamb: Oh. Ok. Yes.
Andy Millman: Suposse I get it there at nine.
Darren Lamb: Ten. Yeah. After the coffee
Andy Millman: Right. Add Eight
Darren Lamb: to What?
Andy Millman: Ten!
Darren Lamb: Ten? Eighteen.
Andy Millman: [exasperating] What you mean eighteen?
Darren Lamb: Oh no. Add eight. Hours you mean. Sorry.
Andy Millman: Of course. So call it at six o' clock.
Darren Lamb: Right. Their Time.
Andy Millman: Our Time!
Darren Lamb: Our time. Yeah. And What time would be over there?
Andy Millman: Ten.
Darren Lamb: Ten. At night?
Andy Millman: In the morning!
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Ricky Gervais Show: Video Podcasts: Episode #1.8 (2006)
- SoundtracksWouldn't It Be Good
Performed by Nik Kershaw
Following on from the first series, the focus changes from the "little people" in the background to the nature of growing fame and how it changes people. So we follow Andy as he sells his soul in return for BBC airtime and takes his sitcom from being a potential "Office" to being something that even "Dinnerladies" stands head and shoulders above. In doing this the series cleverly gets more mileage from its characters while also still holding to the core ideals of the first series, by which I mean the painful humiliation and misunderstandings that are out in life no matter who you are. Of course this is not to suggest that it is brilliant because it isn't it is far too limited in ideas to be brilliant but, like the first series, it still manages to be very funny on a regular basis.
I'm frantically trying to avoid comparisons with The Office because I don't think it is fair on Gervais BUT the lack of depth in the series is an obstacle to it being as good or as painfully funny as that series. It is still well worth watching though because it does do what it does very well. This time round the funniest moments are in Andy's dealings with his agent and the latter's character has been brought into it a lot more. He is gleefully stupid and insensitive and Merchant takes to him like a badger to a main road. Gervais is not the best thing in it then because he is normally the butt of the humiliation or the plot device that brings us to certain places. Gervais does well to try and bring some humanity to his character but he hasn't done enough as a writer to make this work for the audience. Having said that though he is very good as the butt of the jokes. Jensen is reliable as the dippy Maggie, who is fun but has a simple character who hasn't changed much across the series her role is to land Gervais in it and this is what she does. As before, the celebrity cameos provide laughs in sending themselves up but most of them are used in similar ways and their impact is slightly minimised. That said, there aren't many weak links and I enjoyed all of them even if I was glad that the second season looked like it was trying to make them a small part of the show rather than the whole shooting match.
Overall then an enjoyable season of ongoing humiliations that charts a natural development from season one. The lack of depth or real character development means that it is unlikely to have legs beyond those given it by the stars but it is still very funny stuff and has some very good material that easily satisfies for 30 minutes at a time although unlike The Office, it will likely fade as the fame of the cameos so.
- bob the moo
- Nov 9, 2006
Details
- Runtime30 minutes
- Color