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''The Ricky Gervais Show'' is a comedy
radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
show in the UK starring
Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and '' An Idiot Abroad' ...
,
Stephen Merchant Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English comedian, actor, director, presenter and writer. Alongside Ricky Gervais, Merchant was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series ''The Office'' (2001–2003), and ...
, and
Karl Pilkington Karl Pilkington (born 23 September 1972) is an English presenter, comedian, actor, voice-artist, producer and author. After working with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as producer on their XFM radio show, Pilkington became a co-host of '' ...
, later adapted into a podcast and a television series. Despite being named after the more famous Gervais, it mostly revolves around the life and ideas of Karl Pilkington. The show started in August 2001 on Xfm, and aired in weekly periods for months at a time throughout 2002, 2003, 2004, and mid-2005. In November 2005, ''
Guardian Unlimited TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and ''Guardian Unlimited'', is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'', ...
'' offered the show as a
podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
series of 12 shows. Throughout January and February 2006, the podcast was consistently ranked the number one podcast in the world; it appeared in the 2007
Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
for the world's most downloaded podcast, having gained an average of 261,670 downloads per episode during its first month. According to the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, by September 2006, the podcasts of the series had been downloaded nearly 18 million times. , the podcast has been downloaded over 300 million times. An animated series based on the podcast and adapted for television debuted for
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
in the United States and
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
in the UK in 2010.


Radio shows


Early shows

Gervais and Merchant first worked together in radio on the London-based alternative radio station
Xfm London Radio X is a British National commercial radio station focused on alternative rock, alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global Media & Entertainment, Global. Radio X launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station, a licensed Lon ...
. Their show was broadcast from January to August 1998 from 4–6pm on Sundays, and only featured Gervais and Merchant (before their collaboration on ''
The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original series of ...
''). The show's original format was more interactive, with features, guests, phone-ins, and audience interaction through listeners' letters.


Return to XFM

Gervais and Merchant returned to Xfm in August 2001, after the first series of ''The Office'' had been broadcast, with Pilkington brought in as producer. The show was originally just billed as Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, and Karl's presence was not acknowledged on posters and other advertisements. Gervais and Merchant would speak to Karl about his thoughts on whatever they were talking about. In 2003 Pilkington was officially added to advertisements for the show as over the years Karl's role on the show became more prominent as Ricky and Steve were finding more amusement with his views and personal life. As the producer, Karl had input with features such as Rockbusters, Songs of Phrase, Do We Need 'em, Knob News, Cheeky Freak of the Week, Monkey News and Educating Ricky. Their last show for XFM aired on 2 July 2005, after which they chose to switch the show's format from radio to podcasting.


Series 1

The show ran between September 2001 and May 2002 before Gervais and Merchant went on hiatus to film the second series of ‘’The Office’’. Initially, Pilkington’s on-air presence was relatively minimal compared to what it would become. Gervais and Merchant only occasionally called for Karl to weigh in with his thoughts, while the two mostly talked to each other, with the “links” between songs comprising only about 30 minutes of the show’s 2-hour run time. As Pilkington’s personality moved to the forefront, the talk portion of the show expanded to roughly an hour per 2-hour broadcast. While the show relied largely upon a stream-of-consciousness format, Pilkington made attempts to keep things more conventional by insisting on running contests and airing pre-recorded segments and regular “features”.


Series 2

With the second series of ‘’The Office’’ complete, Gervais, Merchant, and Pilkington returned to XFM in August of 2002 to resume their 2-hour Saturday afternoon broadcasts. Though Pilkington’s name was still not being used in promotional materials, the format mainly centered on his contributions with Gervais and Merchant mostly reacting to the various things Karl said and did, a format that would endure through the remainder of the radio broadcasts and podcasts, concluding in 2012. This was the longest stretch of XFM shows, running 51 weeks until August 2003 when Gervais and Merchant again went on hiatus, this time to record the Christmas Special (finale) for ‘’The Office’’. During the year, Pilkington introduced many of the show’s most notable segments including “ Monkey News”, “Rockbusters”, “Songs of Phrase”, and “The Film Thing”, among others. Karl grew increasingly frustrated with Ricky’s antagonism toward him throughout the year, and over the final few shows, suggested he did not want to continue on. Gervais and Merchant repeatedly said on air they would not return if Pilkington didn’t agree to remain with the show.


Series 3

During the hiatus, Pilkington signed on with Gervais and Merchant’s talent agent, and negotiated a deal with XFM to get Mondays off in exchange for continuing to do The Ricky Gervais Show on Saturdays. This was a frequent topic of contention during this run with Gervais repeatedly accusing Pilkington of being lazy for demanding an entire day off on exchange for doing 2-hours of work on Saturdays. This show began airing again in November 2003 and broadcast for 12 weeks until January 2004 when Gervais and Merchant went on hiatus to film series 1 of their new show, ‘’Extras’’.


Series 4

Gervais, Merchant, and Pilkington returned to XFM following the completion of ‘’Extras’’ series 1. This time, they recorded only 6 shows before Gervais and Merchant left XFM for good. The show would later continue as a podcast, with no further association with XFM.


Controversies

On the 17 November 2001 broadcast, Gervais and Merchant (despite Karl's protests) filled the show with sexual innuendos and double entendres, in which they used the word "cock" multiple times, claiming they were referring to the bird, rather than the penis. During a later show, Gervais and Merchant revealed that they had discovered that they had received a warning from the radio authority by reading an article on a news website. The pair often joked how it was acceptable to say "cock" referring to the male bird but not say "cock" referring to a penis. Such as on 2 August 2003, when Ricky brought in a tin of "Cock Soup" then he and Steve made obvious sexual innuendos about the soup, while maintaining they were referring to "cock as in the bird", and later the two played with the name of philosopher Immanuel Kant and its obvious similarity in sound to the word "cunt".


Radio 2 Holiday Shows

Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington broadcast two hour-long holiday specials on Radio 2 during the 2005 holiday season, the first airing on Christmas Eve and the second on New Year's Eve.


NME Radio show

Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington recorded a two-hour radio show as part of the test transmissions for the new radio station NME Radio. The episode aired on Monday 9 June 2008, 12pm (BST).


Podcasts


Creation

According to
Emily Bell Emily Jane Bell (born 14 September 1965) is a British academic and journalist. She is Professor of Professional Practice at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (Columbia School of Journalism)
, editor-in-chief of ''
Guardian Unlimited TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and ''Guardian Unlimited'', is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'', ...
'', Gervais and Merchant had approached the ''Guardian'' with the idea of the show. Bell believes they switched to a podcast format for greater control over content and access to a larger audience. The first 12 episodes were released free of charge through the ''Guardian Unlimited'' website.


Series one

The first series of podcasts began on 5 December 2005, and a new episode was released each Monday for the next twelve weeks. The show relies heavily on the wit and bizarre theories of Pilkington, who was now unemployed, having left his job as
radio producer A radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. The job title covers several different job descriptions: *Content producers or executive producers oversee and orchestrate a radio show or feature. The content producer might organize music choi ...
at XFM. The podcast focuses more on Pilkington as a primary figure of humour in the show in various ways, including questions directed at him that have been emailed in, either by fans of the show or by Gervais and Merchant themselves.


Series two

Series two of the podcast began on 28 February 2006. It consisted of 6 episodes with the final one released on 4 April 2006. The series saw the return of Karl's Diary and Rockbusters. A new (though short-lived; it was only presented in the first episode) feature was also introduced in order to replace Pilkington's "Monkey News", called "Real Monkey News", where Gervais attempts to present facts about chimpanzees which are factual and scientific. With the start of series two, the formerly free ''Ricky Gervais Show'' shifted to a pay model – and as a result the show is now classified as an
audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...
. It is available through
Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or rush ...
and the
iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
with individual episodes. The reason for this addition, according to Ricky on the podcast, is because ''The Guardian'' agreed to pay for the bandwidth for 12 episodes, and any more extra episodes would have to be paid for out of their personal finances.


Series three

Series three of the podcasts was released on 22 August 2006. This season saw the return of Karl's Diary as well as a new feature based on Karl's attempts at Poetry. Pilkington was noticeably lethargic during this 6-episode series, having been in and out of the hospital with kidney stones and subsequent complications. This was a major focus of his diary entries during this period with Gervais and Merchant ridiculing him for his histrionics over what they noted was a minor, routine operation. All other known features were abandoned, with the rest of each episode focusing instead on conversation. The season had the same pricing implementation as season two, although the file quality was increased from 32 kbit/s to 56 kbit/s. At the end of the sixth episode, Gervais and Merchant agreed to put the show on an indefinite hiatus.


Series four: The Podfather Trilogy

Three free podcasts were announced that coincide with special days. The first was released on 31 October 2006, to coincide with
Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...
, the next was on 23 November, coinciding with
Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...
, and the last was released on 24 December 2006, to coincide with
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
.


Fame special

A special podcast was made available as a giveaway to people who went to see Gervais' standup tour Fame, which showed from January to April 2007. It was later released for free to the public in October of that year.


Hour-Long Bonus Podcast

On 25 November 2007, Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington released a special bonus podcast for free. In it, Ricky and Steve continued to probe Karl with questions from ''
Inside the Actors Studio ''Inside the Actors Studio'' is an American talk show that airs on Ovation. The series premiered in 1994 on Bravo where it aired for 22 seasons and was hosted by James Lipton from its premiere until 2018. It is taped at the Michael Schimmel Cente ...
''. Originally released as an extra on the audio CD release of series one, it was later made available free through iTunes.


Series five

Four more episodes were released on 15 September 2008 through the
iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
. This series was released all at once as an
Audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...
, almost two hours in length and split into four half-hour episodes. This series differs because they were recorded at the same time. There are no contests or any interaction from the listeners as the previous series contained.


The Ricky Gervais Guide to...


Series one

A new series, called ''The Ricky Gervais Guide to...'' featured the trio discussing various topics in their entirety during individual 50 min episodes. The first volume ''The Ricky Gervais Guide to... Medicine'' was released on 31 December 2008. This was followed by ''The Ricky Gervais Guide to... Natural History'' on 21 January 2009. This in turn was followed by ''The Ricky Gervais Guide to... The Arts'' on 18 February 2009. The 4th episode, ''The Ricky Gervais Guide to... Philosophy'' aired on 17 March while the 5th and final episode of season 1, ''The Ricky Gervais Guide to... The English'' followed on 21 April (2 days prior to St. George's Day).


Series two

It was announced on Gervais's blog that the first episode of the new series, ''The Ricky Gervais Guide to... Society'', was recorded on 6 September 2009; it was released on 3 November 2009. The second audiobook of the new series, ''The Ricky Gervais Guide to... Law and Order,'' was released on 1 December 2009. A third audiobook, entitled ''The Ricky Gervais Guide to... The Future'', was released on 29 December 2009. A fourth audiobook, entitled ''The Ricky Gervais Guide to... The Human Body'' was released on 26 January 2010. The fifth and final audiobook of the second season, entitled ''The Ricky Gervais Guide to... The Earth'' was released on 23 February 2010. On 12 June 2010 ''The Ricky Gervais Guide to... The World Cup'' released. This was followed later that year by a podcast entitled "A day in the Life of Karl Pilkington" following a format more associated with the Ricky Gervais Show podcasts. ''The Ricky Gervais Guide to... Comic Relief'' was released as a free podcast on 6 March 2011 in aid of
Red Nose Day Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...
(18 March 2011).


A Day in the Life of Karl

A special one-off podcast titled ''A Day in the Life of Karl'' was released on 28 October 2010.


Video podcasts

On 24 March 2006, an "irregular run of free
video podcasts Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) systems ...
" was launched through the
iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
podcast directory. The video podcasts do not follow the format of the earlier audio shows and the content varies greatly from podcast to podcast. The first video was a conversation between Pilkington and Gervais, with Gervais enthusing about the idea of Pilkington becoming a human crab or having massive
reconstructive surgery Reconstructive surgery is surgery performed to restore normal appearance and function to body parts malformed by a disease or medical condition. Description Reconstructive surgery is a term with training, clinical, and reimbursement implica ...
. The second podcast served as an
advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
for Pilkington and Gervais's new book, '' The World of Karl Pilkington'' (a series of excerpts from the previous podcasts and various musings and drawings produced by Karl). The third on the series was an audio clip from a previous edition of Monkey News, synchronised with a
flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid ...
animation. The fourth video podcast features a controversial audio advertisement for The Prostate Cancer Charity and Gervais talking about his Aerial Award. The fifth is Gervais and Merchant making Pilkington watch ''
Brokeback Mountain ''Brokeback Mountain'' is a 2005 American neo-Western romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee and produced by Diana Ossana and James Schamus. Adapted from the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx, the screenplay was written by O ...
''. The sixth podcast was another conversation over Pilkington's book ''The World of Karl Pilkington''. The seventh podcast was about a story Pilkington told in series one, episode one, about his bizarre journey in an abandoned asylum and rehabilitation clinic. The eighth video shows Gervais showing the viewer around the various sets during the filming of the second series of '' Extras,'' followed by Pilkington giving his opinion on Gervais's latest book, '' Flanimals of the Deep.'' The ninth was Pilkington talking about Gervais's cat; Ollie. The tenth was Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington announcing the new series of the show beginning on 22 August. In August 2012 Ricky Gervais produced a pilot for a new series of video podcasts, titled ''Learn English with Ricky Gervais''. The show features Gervais and Pilkington engaging in English dialogue, and translated captions have been provided in many languages by his fans.


Cancelled podcasts

In November 2010, Ricky announced that a new series of podcasts would be recorded in 2011 and a new audiobook series where Karl will be an
agony aunt An advice column is a column in a question and answer format. Typically, a (usually anonymous) reader writes to the media outlet with a problem in the form of a question, and the media outlet provides an answer or response. The responses are wr ...
answering listeners' problems. However, in October 2011 on his online blog Gervais revealed that the new audiobook will consist of Karl reading the book '' Flanimals'' written by Gervais himself. In the blog, Gervais said both himself and Stephen Merchant will be present during the reading to "help him with long words". However, this idea was eventually scrapped as well.


TV series

''The Ricky Gervais Show'' audiobooks have been developed into ''The Ricky Gervais Show'', an animated series which premiered on 19 February 2010, on the American channel
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
and on the British channel Channel 4 on 23 April 2010. The show consists of past audiobooks with animation, drawn in a style similar to classic era
Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...
cartoons, describing jokes in a literal context. Series one, two and three are available on DVD and streaming services.


Recurring features and competitions


Monkey News

''Monkey News'' was a popular feature that began in the early XFM days and was originally referred to as "Chimpanzee That". ''Monkey News'' segments typically came near the end of the broadcasts and featured Karl Pilkington relating stories of chimps (referred to by Pilkington interchangeably as "monkeys") performing absurd and often impossible feats. Some of the stories, such as the 'chimp that flew a rocket'
Monkeys and apes in space Before humans went into space in the 1960s, several other animals were launched into space, including numerous other primates, so that scientists could investigate the biological effects of spaceflight. The United States launched flights contain ...
 would be highly exaggerated tales based on actual real events. The "monkey" is often a mysterious protagonist until he is revealed at the conclusion of the story, although in most cases, it is immediately obvious to Gervais, Merchant, and the audience how the monkey/chimp will figure into the tale (a segment about horse racing will have Pilkington saying that the chimp was the jockey, for example). The stories are rarely sourced by Pilkington who is always accused by Gervais of "talking shit" or possibly having extrapolated misinformation from a news story. Sometimes listeners would email ''Monkey News'' stories to Pilkington. Despite its popularity, ''Monkey News'' almost always led to Gervais becoming furious at Pilkington for the obviously fatuous nature of the stories, which Pilkington insisted were true. He would often interrupt Pilkington to express outrage and disbelief. In one XFM show, he became so frustrated that he left the room before Karl finished the segment. Stephen Merchant was often more patient and frequently admonished Gervais by shouting, "Let him finish!" or "Shut up!", insisting that Karl be allowed to deliver the story in full. On one occasion he told Karl to cut Gervais' microphone when Ricky would not cease his interruptions. However, even Merchant has been driven to verbally abuse Karl during the most obviously nonsensical and extreme stories. Despite the far-fetched nature of ''Monkey News'', Pilkington always insists he is accurately recounting the facts. The confrontational interactions among Gervais, Merchant, and Pilkington often result in ''Monkey News'' becoming a sort of collaborative
shaggy dog story In its original sense, a shaggy dog story or yarn is an extremely long-winded anecdote characterized by extensive narration of typically irrelevant incidents and terminated by an anticlimax. Shaggy dog stories play upon the audience's precon ...
. During their podcast, Ricky and Steve try to disprove monkey news by "casually" talking of the story being told and how the central character could not possibly be a monkey due to the need for high intelligence, specialized knowledge, or the fact that a monkey would be immediately recognized by onlookers, etc. Gervais incorrectly stated that
chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative th ...
s do not have
opposable thumbs The thumb is the first digit of the hand, next to the index finger. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position (where the palm is facing to the front), the thumb is the outermost digit. The Medical Latin English noun for thumb ...
, when trying to prove that a chimp could not use a tool to perform surgery. On the 20 February 2006 podcast, Pilkington announced that ''Monkey News'' would no longer be a featured segment in future podcasts, claiming that there were no more ''Monkey News'' stories to report. However, it came back for a brief reprise at the end of the third series. ''Monkey News'' was introduced on both the XFM radio show and the podcasts with a "jingle" performed by Gervais shouting, "Ooh, Chimpanzee That! Monkey News!", which was sometimes followed by a muttered obscenity.


Knob News

''Knob News'' has a format which is an amalgam of Monkey News and Educating Ricky. It features only in the latest 2005 XFM shows. Early versions had Ricky giving the news, though later it involved Karl giving a series of headlines of a male genital nature, from which Ricky and Steve would choose. A one-off show feature, similarly related, was Fanny Facts – where Karl presented news about or related to vaginas. 'Knob' was used as a non-offensive slang term for penis throughout. The jingle for it was Ricky shouting 'Ooh! You're gonna have someone's eye out! Knob News!' in a very similar fashion to Monkey News.


Rockbusters

''Rockbusters'' was conceived by Karl Pilkington and was played on Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's long running XFM radio show between 2002–2004 and brought back in 2005. It debuted on 12 October 2002 as a phone-in, but converted to an e-mail competition the following week. Despite punning in its title, the game has very little in common with '' Blockbusters''. It is played as follows: Karl gives three clues, which he considers "cryptic" but are in reality convoluted
colloquialism Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...
s which often depend on the answer being mispronounced. Along with the "clue", Karl includes the initials of the answer. Merchant sometimes referred to the clues as 'craptic'. The feature is often accompanied with Gervais's extreme frustration at the terrible quality of the clues and him encouraging Pilkington to get through the feature as quickly as possible. Some examples are as follows: Clue: I was walking in Texas, I fell over and my leg landed in a puddle. Answer:
Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...
(Wet Knee Houston) Clue: The
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
n fella might have screamed this on the
Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...
. Initials: CB. Answer: Chris de Burgh ("Christ! De berg!") Clue: That part of my leg is
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
. Initials: B. Answer: Britney (Brit-Knee) For the XFM broadcasts, Rockbusters was not typically prefaced with an introductory "jingle" (usually a phrase shouted by Gervais) like some other features such as Monkey News. However, for the podcasts, Ricky would introduce the segment by screaming, "Rockbusters!" in the style of
Block Buster! "Block Buster!" (also sometimes listed as "Blockbuster!") is a 1973 single by Sweet. Written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, and produced by Phil Wainman, "Block Buster!" was the band's sole UK No. 1 hit. Released in January 1973, it spent five w ...
by Sweet.


Educating Ricky

Introduced along with ''Rockbusters'' on 12 October 2002 and lasting throughout the autumn, ''Educating Ricky'' was a feature in which Karl tries to teach Ricky several facts every week by catching his attention with a made-up headline, usually a pun. At the time, Gervais described ''Educating Ricky'' as being his favourite segment because the puns often left him in hysterics. Some classic stories include a man who was abducted by aliens for three days and he grew a beard, a man who was beheaded and his corpse took 32 steps after decapitation, the infamous tale of the hairy Chinese kid and the origin of the phrase "don't let the cat out of the bag".


Fan Mail

Described mockingly by Merchant as their "biggest fan" although "not afraid to offer some constructive criticism", someone calling himself ''Richard Anderson'' would e-mail the show regularly in the early days of the Xfm show. His first mail was read by Steve in the 2 November 2002 episode: ''"Ricky, your show is appalling. Are you actually aware you are on the radio or has someone just secretly stuck a microphone on you?"'' Ricky and Steve from then on referred to him as ''Dickie Anders'', ''Dickers'', ''The Dick Machine'', ''The Dickmeister General'', ''The Big Dick'' and several other nickname variations. Another listener calling himself ''Paul "The Party Animal" Parker'' would send in various facts and news stories during the early podcasts in late 2005/early 2006. Gervais immediately picked up on his self-proclaimed nickname, and imagined he looked like
Milhouse Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten is a recurring character in the Fox animated television series ''The Simpsons'' voiced by Pamela Hayden and created by Matt Groening. Milhouse is Bart Simpson's best friend in Mrs. Krabappel's fourth grade class ...
from ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
''.


Songs of Phrase

This competition, initially named Crosswords before adopting a listener's suggestion to use a play on words from BBC's
Songs of Praise ''Songs of Praise'' is a BBC Television religious programme that presents Christian hymns sung in churches of varying denominations from around the UK. The series was first broadcast in October 1961. On that occasion, the venue was the Ta ...
, was introduced when Karl was finding it hard to come up with new ''Rockbusters'' clues. A well-known phrase from the show, such as "You never see an old man having a
Twix Twix is a caramel shortbread chocolate bar made by Mars, Inc., consisting of a biscuit applied with other confectionery toppings and coatings (most frequently caramel and milk chocolate).The biscuit is typically topped with caramel and then ...
" was split up into words of different songs. The competition was to guess the songs played. In this instance
Gerry & The Pacemakers Gerry and the Pacemakers were a British beat group prominent in the 1960s Merseybeat scene. In common with the Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein, and were recorded by George Martin. Their early successes alongsid ...
' cover of
Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their popu ...
's "You'll Never Walk Alone" made up the first two words of the phrase. Problems arose in this case when Karl couldn't find a song with "Twix" in it, and so he substituted the alternative chocolate bar "Mars", using the lyrics to David Bowie's "Life on Mars". Songs of Phrase was a feature present throughout the later series of the XFM shows. The quality of this contest varied greatly from broadcast to broadcast, sometimes drawing praise from Gervais and Merchant when they felt Karl had done an especially good job picking the songs and editing them together. Other times, they felt the phrase was too elaborate and/or the editing of the songs was too muddled for the listeners to clearly understand. On such occasions, Karl would draw harsh criticism from Ricky and Steve, and Ricky would threaten to cancel the feature.


White Van Karl

At the time, '' The Sun'' ran a feature called "White Van Man" whereby questions on the stories of that week were put to white van drivers across the country, just to gain an insight into their views and opinions. Stephen Merchant posed the same questions to Karl, to find out more about him. The best aspect of this was Karl's bizarre beliefs and theories. Gervais and Merchant also found humour in the very mundane answers the ''White Van Man'' of the week would give. This feature was mainly used as a way to introduce new listeners to the mind of Karl Pilkington and was only used during the earlier days of the XFM shows.


Karl's Diary

Karl started keeping a record of his thoughts and experiences whilst on holiday in
Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, an archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa which is part of Spain. the island had a population of that co ...
with his girlfriend, Suzanne. The segment first appeared in episode 8 of the
Guardian Unlimited TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and ''Guardian Unlimited'', is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'', ...
podcasts (23 January 2006). Karl compared his literary efforts to those of
Anne Frank Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...
, claiming that "If she's sat in a, you know, a loft knockin' stuff up, not much goin' on in 'er life at that point, yet she was still writin' it down...I thought well I'm on holiday an' I have got stuff goin' on...start a diary". Gervais and Merchant were amused when Karl first showed them the diary, revealing to be a large desk-diary and not a smaller pocket-diary that would have been easier to carry. Gervais correctly predicted that the extracts from Karl's diary would become an instant hit with fans, and encouraged Pilkington's efforts to maintain a record of his thoughts and experiences. Gervais and Merchant often lapsed into fits of hysteria while reading Karl's diary owing to the absurd, pedantic, and often mindless nature of Karl's day-to-day experiences (such as rescuing insects from a swimming pool, watching a local cat lick its testicles and going to the cobbler's). Memorable diary moments include: conceptualizing a wristwatch that counts down the remainder of your life, the large number of cross-eyed people at the hotel on Gran Canaria, a cat licking its testicles outside of a pub, a bar called "Tattoos" where the landlord did not appear to have any visible tattoos but Karl "never saw the landlord's wife", the time Karl refused to wash his hands after eating lemon cake at Ricky's house leading to a major argument, Karl thinking that both himself and Ricky Gervais are bored when they go to meetings as "after twenty minutes he (Ricky) was trying to wrestle me to the ground", Karl's idea for a television program ''Look what we can do with Science'' in which parts of a person's body are gradually removed until just the head remains, the post Karl received that was addressed to "Mr. K. Dilkington", the time Karl was carrying a lamp and wastebasket while moving to a new house and people thought he was a novelty entrant in a marathon, the tongue twister "if you can't treat a cheerful tramp, what sort of tramp can you treat?", certain tribes of cavemen allegedly waving their "tackle" (genitals) about when they want visitors to leave, and the 'experimental' mirrored wall in Karl's flat that he has partially covered with wallpaper. For the third series of the podcasts, Pilkington’s diary focused mainly on his experiences in the hospital while being treated for kidney stones. Also in this series, Karl became intrigued with poetry and would occasionally author brief poems based on his daily experiences and learnings. Gervais and Merchant were both shocked and delighted by Pilkington's foray into poetry. Poetry topics included jellyfish, being in the hospital, the body of a
caveman The caveman is a stock character representative of primitive humans in the Paleolithic. The popularization of the type dates to the early 20th century, when Neanderthals were influentially described as " simian" or "ape-like" by Marcellin ...
allegedly discovered with hair gel in his hair, and blind moths. Gervais usually introduced the diary segments with the jingle, “Oh, I don’t believe it! He’s only gone and written it down!” This was sometimes followed by muttered obscenities in similar fashion to the Monkey News jingle.


Shows taglines and multiple occurrences

As part of the comedy, Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais bullied Karl – claiming that "he's got a head like a fucking
orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...
". In the
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
test Radio Broadcast Stephen Merchant claims he met a man in Vietnam who shouted at him, "Oy oy, Karl Pilkington's got a head like a fucking orange". Moreover, Gervais would routinely insult Karl by using some varying collection of the words "little", "stupid", "bald", " Manc" and "
twat "Twat" is an English-language vulgarism which means the vulva or vagina, and is used figuratively as a derogatory epithet. In British English, it is a common insult referring to an obnoxious or stupid person regardless of gender; in American ...
". Other phrases include "I don't understand" often referring to Karl's preposterous ideas and
theories A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be s ...
, or "play a record" in an attempt to bring a link to a quick end, usually due to the ridiculousness of whatever Karl is saying. More recently, after a particularly nonsensical statement or one containing no evidence, Ricky will repeatedly state "It's unbelievable", or simply yell "Bollocks!" Ricky also routinely says "You're talking shit" when Karl says something particularly ridiculous, often during Monkey News. Despite Gervais being his primary antagonist, in the XFM shows Karl would sometimes lash out at the more patient Merchant, commenting on his gangly appearance and, at the time, lack of success with women, with Gervais often egging the pair on with comments such as 'he's done you again!' Karl also often mumbles "I'm sick of it" or, alternatively, "...sick of it," after he expresses one of his grievances (such as "useless" animals or human nature). He also asks "Do we need 'em?" when discussing an animal or thing he deems unnecessary. He also says "Forget it" when Ricky and Stephen dismiss a statement of his out of hand. During the XFM shows, some of the more explicit taglines would have to be altered as to not create trouble with the "radio authorities". The use of profanities on the show would often make Karl uneasy and worried.


Other features


Music-specific features

As music was played on the XFM show, Gervais and Merchant often came up with "features" for choosing songs to play. Some of the frequent ones include: ''A Song for the Lovers'' was a feature Gervais ran in the days of the XFM show where he played a favourite song of his which he dedicated it to couples listening. ''A Song for the Ladies'' was a feature Merchant ran, similar to Gervais's feature, however as he is single he would dedicate a favourite song of his to the ladies listening. ''Hip Hop Hooray'' was another Merchant feature originally entitled "That Hip-Hop Track". He would play a track of the hip-hop genre to Gervais and Karl. In one show,
Jonathan Ross Jonathan Stephen Ross (born 17 November 1960) is an English broadcaster, film critic, comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He presented the BBC One chat show ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' during the 2000s, hosted his own radio show on ...
popped in live on the air to give Gervais some tickets to an Awards Ceremony, and claimed that ''Hip Hop Hooray'' was the "worst feature on British radio" featuring "instantly forgettable" songs. ''That Film Sounds Good'' was a feature run by Gervais, where he picked a song from a film and played that (not to be confused with his film review). ''Under the Covers/Run for Cover/Cover Me Up/Duck for Cover/Cover Me Bad/Between The Covers/OOh You Got Me Covered/OOh I Like Covers/Here Come The Covers/Mmmm Covers/This Was Done By Someone Else/I Like Cover Songs'' was most commonly a Merchant feature in which he simply played a cover version of a famous song. The feature was short lived. ''Songs That I'd Like To Play/Songs That I Like/Song's That I'd Like To Hear on the Radio'' was a Merchant feature in which (as explained by Gervais) they admit that there are a lot of songs in the world, but that for this particular feature, you will only hear songs that Merchant likes.


Notable short-lived features

''The Education of Karl'': Following the revelation of Karl's
GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...
results, a sole E in History, Gervais decides to give Karl a piece of homework, usually a short biography of an important historic figure, which Karl must report on each week. Subjects included
Rasputin Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (; rus, links=no, Григорий Ефимович Распутин ; – ) was a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, thus ga ...
,
Che Guevara Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quoted ...
,
Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
,
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
and
Aesop's Fables Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended to ...
. Karl soon became bored and annoyed with his homework since it reminded him of school, and abandoned the feature. This was one of the first recurring features, along with ''White Van Karl'', which principally revolved around Karl relating his opinions on various topics. ''Song with a Story'': This feature ran in the final shows of XFM. Karl doesn't particularly enjoy a song unless it has a story to go with it, and in this feature he chose one of his favourite songs with a story and would play them on the show. The songs were often accompanied by commentary from Gervais, Merchant and Karl. A classic example of this feature is when Karl believed that
Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...
's "
Wonderful Tonight "Wonderful Tonight" is a ballad written by Eric Clapton. It was included on Clapton's 1977 album ''Slowhand''. Clapton wrote the song about Pattie Boyd. "the hard-rock pioneer and guitar god also become a soft-rock star in the mid-1970s. He cel ...
" was about a disabled man in a wheel chair, while having little evidence for this belief. Perhaps the most notable song included in this feature is
Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...
's "
The Killing of Georgie "The Killing of Georgie (Part I and II)" is a song written and recorded by Rod Stewart and released as a track on his 1976 album '' A Night on the Town''. The song tells the story of a gay man who was killed in New York City. A two-part song, ...
", which Karl says is his favourite song. ''Do We Need 'Em?'': A feature from the middle years of the XFM series, which originally was simply called 'Pilkington' where Karl interviewed a woman who claimed to have had a ghostly experience, prompting him to ask "You're not on crack?". This morphed into ''Do We Need 'Em?'', in which Karl would call an animal expert and argue for the
extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
of a certain animal species, which he felt was useless and "getting in the way". Karl became dismayed by the opposition he faced from the experts, believing there was a conspiracy to keep every animal from extinction, and thus ended the feature. At the beginning and end of the feature, the theme tune to
Michael Parkinson Sir Michael Parkinson (born 28 March 1935) is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his television talk show '' Parkinson'' from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007, as well as other talk shows and programmes both in the U ...
's chat show was played. ''Cheap as Chimps'': Karl provides information concerning the economy of raising apes. As with several other of his short-lived features, Karl had come up with the title before the actual concept of the feature, and it was discontinued when Karl, upon viewing a most likely illegal animal poaching website, realised that raising chimps wasn't as cheap as he'd originally hoped. After dropping the feature Karl became convinced that
Donal MacIntyre Donal MacIntyre (born 25 January 1966) is an Irish investigative journalist, specialising in investigations, undercover operations and television exposés. He has also worked as a presenter of both television news and documentaries on various U ...
had stolen "Cheap as Chimps" and put it on Channel Five. The Donal McIntyre show was in fact called "The Trade in Rare Mountain Gorillas – Rwanda" and was broadcast as part of his ''MacIntyre Investigates'' series, televised in April 2003. ''Cheeky Freak of the Week'': For this feature, Karl discussed his favourite freak of the week chosen from the tabloids, internet or the ''
Fortean Times ''Fortean Times'' is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing (from 1991 to 2001), I Feel Good Publishing (2001 to 2005), Dennis Publishing (2005 to 2 ...
''. ''Cheeky Freak of the Week'' was a relatively short-lived feature, which only existed during the earlier days of the XFM shows. Karl ended up having to stop this feature as he was worried about people thinking he was "having a go". ''Karl's Film Quiz'': This feature involved a clip of a famous film with Karl's voice dubbed over one of the main character's. He would often change the storyline and chronology of the film to match recent events in his life. At the end, Karl would ask a trivia question relating to the film, and would typically award a prize to a listener who e-mailed in the correct answer. The prize was usually a VHS copy of the film featured in the segment. Gervais and Merchant often made fun awarding VHS tapes as prizes, complaining that Karl and XFM were too cheap to purchase the films on DVD. The feature also was never given a proper name and Karl often described it as merely 'the film thing'. However, this feature was a consistent favourite of both Gervais and Merchant. Films featured in the segment included: ''
The Graduate ''The Graduate'' is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Wil ...
'', ''
Pulp Fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhame ...
'', '' The Shining'', '' When Harry Met Sally...'', '' Kes'', and ''
A Few Good Men ''A Few Good Men'' is a 1992 American legal drama film based on Aaron Sorkin's 1989 play. It was written by Sorkin, directed by Rob Reiner, and produced by Reiner, David Brown and Andrew Scheinman. It stars an ensemble cast including Tom Cru ...
''. ''Ricky's World-Famous Film Review'': Gervais's film review was one of the earliest features included in the show in which he reviewed a film he had recently seen. Often the reviews contained very little opinion and were often just a summary of what had happened in the film. Gervais almost always gave films 9/10. He decided to end this feature because he wanted his average film score to stay as 9.5/10. The last film Gervais reviewed was '' The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'', which he hadn't even seen at the time, claiming "
Robbie Coltrane Anthony Robert McMillan (30 March 195014 October 2022), known professionally as Robbie Coltrane, was a Scottish actor and comedian. He gained worldwide recognition in the 2000s for playing Rubeus Hagrid in the ''Harry Potter'' film series. He ...
is probably in it, because he's in that ' other one' "; Gervais still gave the film a 9/10 even though he said "It's about wizards called Gonads with beards."


References


External links


The Ricky Gervais Show websiteOfficial Ricky Gervais website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ricky Gervais Show, The The Guardian 2001 radio programme debuts 2005 podcast debuts Audio podcasts Comedy and humor podcasts Podcasts adapted into television shows British podcasts Ricky Gervais