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YMMV: The Ricky Gervais Show
  • Acceptable Targets: Pretty much anything is an acceptable target in the show as long as it's worth a laugh. Dwarfs and various ethnic groups are particularly favored, although it's never really mean. Oh, and Karl.
    • Karl ignorantly taking potshots at Anne Frank ("just a squatter with a diary.") and Rosa Parks ("too lazy to change seats") came as close to crossing the line as they were willing to go. Stephen sounds very nervous during those segments, and even Karl backs off on Anne Frank once Ricky and Stephen explain to him exactly who she was.
    • But then it's never really an attack on an ethnic group, or a joke made at their expense - it's usually Ricky or Steve making fun of Karl's utterly ill-educated perspective on things, like his thoughts on handing out food in Africa.
  • Archive Binge / Archive Panic: It's not just the Podcasts or the animated show, there's also hours and hours of the original XFM show to listen to.
  • Asshole Victim: It's hard to feel sorry for Steve when Karl offends him.
  • Artifact Title: Even Ricky argues the show by this point is "Karl says something MENTAL".
  • Critical Research Failure: "Monkey News." Also, when Karl relates a movie idea that Hollywood film execs asked him to pitch (!!!), he basically relates the gimmick of Steve Martin's All of Me without recognizing it was already done.
    • While Karl is the main example, Ricky can also fall into this trope when attempting to correct Karl with equally incorrect information, for example, claiming that chimps don't have opposable thumbs.
    • In that case, Ricky branding Karl's "Love of Two Brains" pitch as "the most ludicrous idea he's ever heard" is also a case of CRF, although Karl's pitch would hardly be out of place as a comedy film.
    • In the episode "English", Ricky claims that the crossbow was a quick reloading, easy to fire weapon, when in fact it was slower than a bow and required great strength to reload (granted, so did the bow).
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Discussed Trope. Karl Pilkington was such a smash hit with fans that by the middle of the first run of podcasts, Ricky was already calling it "farcical" that the show bore his name.
  • He Really Can Act: Ricky's turn as the hostage taker isn't bad for a completely improvised routine to test Karl's abilities as a negotiator, he really does sound convincingly unhinged and threatening.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: Karl Pilkington pitches the idea of a man aging backwards totally seriously, years before The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was releasednote .
    • During the Halloween podcast in 2007, Karl talks about how ghosts are always stuck wearing and doing the last things they were up to before they died. Ricky laughs and mocks him. The very next year, Ricky Gervais plays the lead in Ghost Town, based on that exact premise.
    • In Portal 2, Stephen Merchant plays a little, round-headed buffoon robot.
      • Also, one episode has Stephen going "Look what we can do with science!" in a fake-menacing voice. Now try listening to that and not think of Portal 2.
      • In one episode, Karl starts to whinge about a visit to a gadget store and finding a clock powered by a potato. In Portal 2, Gla DOS ends up being powered by a potato, thanks to the machinations of Steve's character.
    • In one episode Karl describes a pair of glasses that can put virtual images over real life ones, so the wearer can have whatever they like. Ricky and Stephen dismiss this completely. It's called Augmented Reality and it's not far away from being made.
  • Memetic Mutation: Karl's "I could eat a knob at night", as in "I could eat a penis in the night-time". Ricky and Stephen even called him on it and asked for the online music community to make music remixes with the soundbite. They happily complied.
    • Karl Pilkington has a head like a fucking orange.
    • Karl Pilkington presents: The Love of Two Brains.
  • So Bad, It's Good: Most of Ricky's impressions of either accents or characters, but the defining example is his Only Fools and Horses impersonations. They contain lines never said on the show in a voice that matches nothing like any heard on the show..... which is why it's so hilarious you will struggle to breathe.
    • "Ooh! Chimpanzee That!" for Monkey News and "Idon'tbelieveit He'sonlygoneandwrittenitdown!" for Karl's Diary are much funnier than a proper jingle would be.
    • Nearly all of Karl's "Rockbusters" clues are so funny precisely because they're so convoluted and stupid, and frequently involve dodgy pronunciation to work (such as the Jamaican on the Titanic: "Christ, De Berg!", "His Last Sticker" being 'Elastica', and "De Trout Spinners" for 'Detroit Spinners').
  • Tear Jerker: It's actually quite upsetting hearing Karl live on air react to the news that he only got one GCSE, an E in History, when he knew he took more but failed to register for them, thus discounting them.
  • Unfortunate Implications: A lot of the time, Karl doesn't necessarily come across as 'stupid' or 'an idiot', as Ricky and Steve are quick to dub him, and is actually just ill informed. Rather than correct him, a lot of the time they just chastise him to the point it almost feels like bullying, on a number of occasions.
  • What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: The animated series. Those multiple TV-MA screens on HBO are there for a reason, folks.

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