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Reaction: Cemetery Junction (2010)
August 24th, 2010 by The Mayor

Cemetery Junction
It’s a town full of losers and we’re pulling out of here to win.
-Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen

My single most anticipated movie of the last two years has finally arrived, was it worth the wait?  I stayed clear of any form of spoilers and reviews, even shying away from clips posted online.  Cemetery Junction was released on home video (only theatrical in the UK earlier this year) on August 17th;  I bought the DVD (Blu-ray had nothing special) and hurried home.  I watched the feature, the extras and then the feature once more with commentary by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.  Here is my reaction: (more…)

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Karl Pilkington’s Seven Wonders Of The World
June 15th, 2010 by The Mayor

Karl PilkingtonIf you’re a fan of Ricky Gervais (and I know you are) you likely know who Karl Pilkington is.  His round head has a new TV show coming as us, Karl Pilkington’s Seven Wonders Of The World.  In the eight-part series, Gervais and Stephen Merchant will stay home in London monitoring their friend as he travels the globe.  He will visit the Great Wall of China, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, Petra in Jordan, Machu Picchu in Peru, Chichen Itza in Mexico, the Taj Mahal in India and the Great Pyramids of Egypt.

Sky TV says: Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are outraged that Karl has written off the Seven Wonders, claiming they’re all “a bit shit”. “They’ve thrown down the gauntlet to send him around the globe to force him out of his comfort zone. Stephen wants the experience to broaden Karl’s mind; Ricky wants Karl to hate every minute of it for his own amusement.”

Pilkington, who starred alongside Gervais and Merchant in their bestselling podcasts – said: “I can’t wait to get started. Not ‘cos I’m excited but ‘cos the sooner we start the sooner it will be over.  The fact the nurse gave me an injection that protects me from dirty chimps put a dampener on the whole thing.”

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WTF: Gervais and Merchant’s Cemetery Junction Direct to DVD
June 9th, 2010 by The Mayor

Cemetery Junction

Don’t take this as a sign that it’s a bad movie, take it as a sign that Sony can’t market a movie with a relatively unknown cast and Ricky Gervais, who hasn’t quite performed as well as many would think in theaters.  After hitting theatres in the U.K. back in April, Ricky Gervais’ latest film Cemetery Junction will be going straight to DVD here in North America. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced an August 17th date for DVD.  One can hope that the film with get some limited play in time for award season, or am I asking for too much?  The soundtrack alone deserves a freakin’ award!  This is sad.  Just look at these reviews:

You Tube

Special features include: (more…)

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Every Thing You Always Wanted to Know About Ricky Gervais But Were Afraid to Google
May 16th, 2010 by The Mayor

Ricky Gervais

RICKY GERVAIS WEEK is over, gutted.  I hope you had fun catching up with Ricky Gervais and the gang as much as I have.  Please visit Ricky’s honest and hilarious blog daily for updates.  The City of Films has dedicated a lot of time to Gervais, and it never gets boring.  There are many resources out there to get your Ricky fix, may I recommend a few?  The Office, Extras, The Ricky Gervais Show (podcast and HBO series), Ghost Town and Cemetery Junction.  Need more?  He was in an episode of Alias you could watch.

Ricky Gervais is an idol of mine, someone I look up to and who inspires me.  He is one of the smartest people I have come across in a long time – I would love to one day just have a chat with him about life.  The man has an extensive knowledge of the world whose ideas I find often reflect my own, it’s a great feeling.  As a fan I can only do my best to share with you the reasons that you too should appreciate the work of Ricky Gervais, his sense of humor and honesty above are often hard to come by with “celebrities”.  He makes it look easy.

He created, wrote, directed and starred in The Office, Extras.  Guest starred in Alias and 24.  Wrote and starred in The Simpson.  Lent his voice to GTA 4, SpongeBob and popped up in both Night at the Museum films and Stardust with Robert De Niro (his hero).  He starred in Ghost Town, made his directorial debut with The Invention of lying.  He finished his work on his collaboration with long time friend Stephen Merchant on their film Cemetery Junction – these just off the top of my head.  He makes his rounds doesn’t he?  Enjoy…

David Brent

(more…)

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PREVIEW: Cemetery Junction
May 16th, 2010 by The Mayor

Cemetery Junction

The men who brought us The Office and Extras (just to name a few laughs) once again got together as writers and directors of Cemetery Junction.  Let’s take a look at the long road that has been the production of what is sure to be, a classic. (more…)

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Ricky Gervais On TV, Present And Future
May 15th, 2010 by The Mayor

The Ricky Gervais ShowTHE RICKY GERVAIS SHOW

The Ricky Gervais Show audiobooks have been developed into an animated TV series, which premiered on February 19, 2010, on HBO.  The Animated Podcast of The Ricky Gervais Show is an animated version of the popular podcasts of the same name. It features real audio from conversations between Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington from the first series of podcasts which were released starting in December of 2005.  A lot of people were expecting new material (for some reason) but as advertising and Ricky’s Blog indicated, it was money for old rope, as they put the old audio on top of new animation.  It is very funny and the animation in my view adds a new layer to the hilarity. (more…)

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Ricky Grervais’ The Office And Extras, Good Innit?
May 12th, 2010 by The Mayor
David Brent

"Shoot."

History will show that I once worked at a video store, turning that gig into this one was not much of a stretch.  Whilst working there I met many good people who showed me alternatives to renting Red Shoe Diary episodes each week.  So came my encounter with The Office (UK).  That is probably the beginning of the whole obsessed appreciation of Ricky Gervais, and the best place to start if you’re wondering. (more…)

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XFM & The Podfather: Ricky Gervais Week
May 11th, 2010 by The Mayor

XFM Radio“Right, I’m just going to add to the list of people we’ve offended: Sorry to Jewish people, sorry to Chinese people, sorry to Welsh people, fat women, Elvis fans, animal lovers, lovers of great radio…” – XFM

In the early 1990s, Ricky did various odd jobs including a stint as Events Manager at the University of London Union.  He assisted British band Suede in booking gigs and gaining recognition. By his own admission, he was a bit-part player in the bands’ early success, as he handed their first demo tape to Saul Galphern of Nude Records, with whom Suede signed.  Gervais, along with the two other managers, were fired by Suede after they hired a full-time manager. Gervais was not bitter, and cited the firing as “business, innit”. After this, he took a job at London radio station XFM. But wait, there’s more!

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