For me if I had to pick a good contender it would be the UK version of The Office.

I know many tend to debate how Ricky Gervais really fell off and how he repugnantly acts like a whiny centrist edgelord but me personally IMO I actually don’t think he was ever funny not even a little.

His big break through television was just so painful to sit through it’s so charismatically boring the characters are completely generic at best (notably Tim) or straight up insufferably unlikable at worst (especially the protagonist David FUCKING Brent) and most importantly the humour is just embarrassing.

Always seemed like The Thick Of It but without the nuisance tongue in cheek and charming satire.

  • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
    171·
    1 day ago

    You’re right and you should say it. Ricky Gervais has always been weird and off-putting and the idea that he was ever good has always baffled me. I never enjoyed The Office. When my dad tried to get me into Extras I just found all of Ricky’s parts annoying. When my sister told me how great Derek was, I just found the whole thing simultaneously tasteless and bland, like it couldn’t commit to being offensive but didn’t put the work into being real. His standup is often clever, but always the kind of clever that is let down by a complete lack of emotional intelligence. The man just does not understand people, but thinks he really does.

    • Rob T Firefly@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      21 hours ago

      I think I first encountered Ricky Gervais’ work in those YouTube videos which took clips of his podcast and animated them as cartoons. They were being passed around like the best thing ever for a minute or two back in the day, and I watched a bunch and didn’t get why it was supposed to be funny that two guys were being assholes at a third guy over and over.

      • aesthelete@lemmy.world
        41·
        19 hours ago

        Karl Pilkington was the funniest one out of them in my opinion. Derek went down in flames when he left the show.