Ricky Gervais Show: “Doppelganger” (2.2)

Anyone who first tunes into The Ricky Gervais Show without knowing anything about it is due for a pretty big shock. Even if you’’re aware that it’s adapted from a series of podcasts, being a fan of The Office or Extras does little to prepare you for Karl Pilkington. It’s not that he’s just around, like Merchant, it’s that Karl’s actually the focus of things and Ricky’s largely peripheral to what happens. Oh, he’s valuable to the show in a number of important ways, but The Ricky Gervais Show is first and foremost about Karl, who’s what sets the show apart from possible imitators. The guys telling stories is easy to do, what’s not easy to replicate is Karl’s unique brand of insanity.
If anything the TV version of The Ricky Gervais Show is even more focused on Karl, but at the end of “Doppelganger” we get a glimpse of what the show would be like without its Karl-centric focus. For once Stephen goes on a tangent and tells us about a recent vacation, or holiday as those wacky Brits like to call it, and while it’s a fine enough story for a party, it’s a letdown for the end of the episode. In short, his trip goes awry when he first ends up accidentally naked on a beach and soon afterwards falls sick. The segment is well-told and features some nice animation gags but it’s just tame compared with what we’ve seen during the 20 previous minutes. Without Karl involved, there’s a certain magic that’s missing and when the episode suddenly ends it’s on a weird note that just doesn’t feel right.