The Awl http://www.theawl.com/ Be Less Stupid Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:12:41 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.2 My Ricky Gervais Problem http://www.theawl.com/2009/11/my-ricky-gervais-problem http://www.theawl.com/2009/11/my-ricky-gervais-problem#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:12:41 +0000 Alex Balk http://www.theawl.com/2009/11/my-ricky-gervais-problem He is always having a laughAlthough his personal prejudices and cultural bugaboos are occasionally too much to take-and, well, whose aren't? God knows I tire of my own frequently enough-I am on the whole a big fan of Independent columnist Howard Jacobson, who happened to write what may be my favorite novel from the previous decade. Anyway, his column this weekend did an excellent job of expressing a discomfort with a popular figure that I had been thus far unable to put into words.

No great comedian is ever amused by himself. Billy Connolly could have been a great comedian had he not taken to collapsing hysterically during his own routines. The seal on David Brent's prattishness was his laughing at his own jokes. Then it turned out that Ricky Gervais, who created him, laughs at his own jokes too. Self-satisfaction is an unpardonable crime in a comedian because his role is to remind us that nothing is satisfactory. Hence the necessity of keeping a straight face. It affirms the seriousness of his calling. Which is to make people laugh, not because life is funny but because it isn't.
He also makes the excellent point that "Curb Your Enthusiasm has suddenly become unfunny because Larry David is trying too hard to be obnoxious."

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]]> He is always having a laughAlthough his personal prejudices and cultural bugaboos are occasionally too much to take-and, well, whose aren't? God knows I tire of my own frequently enough-I am on the whole a big fan of Independent columnist Howard Jacobson, who happened to write what may be my favorite novel from the previous decade. Anyway, his column this weekend did an excellent job of expressing a discomfort with a popular figure that I had been thus far unable to put into words.

No great comedian is ever amused by himself. Billy Connolly could have been a great comedian had he not taken to collapsing hysterically during his own routines. The seal on David Brent's prattishness was his laughing at his own jokes. Then it turned out that Ricky Gervais, who created him, laughs at his own jokes too. Self-satisfaction is an unpardonable crime in a comedian because his role is to remind us that nothing is satisfactory. Hence the necessity of keeping a straight face. It affirms the seriousness of his calling. Which is to make people laugh, not because life is funny but because it isn't.
He also makes the excellent point that "Curb Your Enthusiasm has suddenly become unfunny because Larry David is trying too hard to be obnoxious."

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See more posts by Alex Balk

56 comments

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