An explanation on this first video is useful. I found it by a person showing another one unrelated, one that seemed ordinary. The person said, "It was either this or the one where Shandling embarrasses Ricky Gervais." That was my search on YouTube. I don't know if this here is the one he was talking about. I found it interesting because I never really did understand either one of them and now I do.
This is terribly awkward. Shandling's schtick is a bit awkward to begin with but this is worse. It appears as if Shandling is in character for an interview at his house and Gervais is not. There is uncomfortable conflict and crossed communication immediately. The interview is a disaster.
A YouTube commenter writes:
Garry's version of what happened. This is copy/pasted as is. There is an interviewer and Shandling explaining.
garrys version on what happenedIt's a horrible real life crossed communication throughout with a few good burns. The British people I noticed loved that Gervais is being embarrassed. The American viewers did not see it that way. Generally.
What happened when Ricky Gervais interviewed you for one of his TV shows?
You didn’t seem to get on… We were doing interviews for my Larry Sanders DVD at the same time as Ricky interviewed me for his show. My DVD included very low-key visits with my friends, including Alec Baldwin and Sharon Stone. We agreed we’d shoot my interview first then Ricky’s. When I walked into the kitchen, his cameras were on which created a completely different sensibility. I came in to say ‘hello’ with my guard down but there he was shooting his show. I thought: ‘Let’s see if I can signal to him to bring it down because we’re doing this other interview.’ We were doing two shows at the same time.
He doesn’t seem to have got the message…
No. It becomes a boxing match. Either of us could have stopped for a minute and said: ‘Are we on the same page?’ but neither of us did. We were two people doing two different shows. I kept thinking: ‘Maybe this will be interesting’ I was trying to do something not comedian-to-comedian but man-to-man. He was trying to make an entertaining show, which I’m capable of; I just wasn’t doing it in that moment. We all needed to stop.
I never did care much for Gervais and at the point of this first video I still don't. It is not until the second video in this series of five videos that I manage to connect with Gervais's sincerity. His genuineness comes through for me. Finally. And the same with Shandling. The burns in the second are natural conversational burns that are tremendously comedic. I haven't watched the remaining three.
6 comments:
Norm MAcDonald I think it was, or it might have been Fred Stoller tells the story of how the good comedians make an up and coming comedian into sort of their butler.
I think it has to happen w/o their conscious consent, somehow, otherwise it doesn't work.
That might have been what was going on. I don't know.
When British comedy and American comedy compete, everyone loses.
if you want in on an exclusive click or club, you have to pass certain tests. You have to prove yourself.
Gervais showing uneasiness as opposed to pretending to be unease is gold Jerry.
How the hell does an American get past writer pronounced without a t and minutiae pronounced monyoushy?
Other than that Gervais is, er....bearable, just.
OK I recognize his face, but I'll admit I never watched anything he was in.
So shoot me. He's just not going to count for one of those triads that they say happen.
I enjoyed Gervais in The Office and Extras, but I find his unscripted self annoying. Too much cackling.
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