Ricky Gervais Live 2: Politics

Starting out at the Houses of Parliament, Ricky Gervais shows how politics are all around us – even demonstrating on a passing disabled man. This trend continues once he is onstage and he covers all sorts of topics with a vague connection to politics and daily life. The connections are perhaps a little thin but Gervais certainly says the stuff that the rest of us are either too scared to say or just have the decency not to even think of saying.

And that is perhaps the main problem with this show – the material doesn't really have a flow to it because mostly Gervais is just out to shock and the laughs come mainly from the surprise of hearing what he has said rather than it being actually that clever or witty. Before he was famous for The Office, this was what Gervais did – a small section in the 11 o'clock show where he used to come on and be politically incorrect. On this show it worked because it was such a small part of the show and that was all he had to do. When he did The Office he scaled back the political incorrect content and made it into a person that many of us know and managed to be both funny and also painfully human. However for the majority of this film there is no real connection with character or reality; instead Gervais takes everything to extremes and, by doing so, he is quite funny but it doesn't really stay with you.

I laughed quite a bit during it but it isn't that clever or witty. The bits I did think were good were the clips in between where his warm-up Robin Ince and Gervais talk about their weird relationship. That was actually funny and interesting because it was clever and involved characters that were slightly exaggerated but still possible. If the main show had been as good as that then it would have been better. Its not helped by Gervais at the end acting shocked as he relates the words of his non-PC producer – why shocked? Isn't it just the sort of stuff he had been saying for the past hour? Overall Gervais fans and people who enjoy going "can't believe he said that" will enjoy this and it does have enough laughs to just about justify watching, but really it is pretty unimaginative stuff that relies on soft shock value to get laughs rather than real wit or invention.

I am a really big fan of ricky and his work i think he is brilliant and after the office i was very much looking forward to his stand up "Animals" which was extremely funny - When i herd about ricky doing a second stand up well i wouldn't wait and the day came when i got my hands on it and i must say This is F**King funny if you thought animals was good this is about 10x better than animals and animals was amazing - RIckys on top form cracking jokes left right and centre i was laughing all the way through pure genius i really recommend this if were a fan of animals / rude stand up this is not for the easily offended 10 / 10

By far the funniest man i've seen. After watching Animals, i thought it would be difficult to do better, and he would if Politics was longer. The holocaust joke was absolutely hilarious. Its about time someone used subjects that are original and funny. If someone cant see the funny side of that, then there's just no hope. The Stephen Hawking skit had me in stitches, crying with laughter. "From Kent and speaks with an American accent". And the impresson tops it off to perfection.

Would recommend and have recommended it to anyone, who isn't afraid of actually laughing at something rather than laughing at what everyone else is laughing at.

Ricky Gervais in my mind is quite a funny man so I was looking forward to watching this when it came out. And on the whole, I wasn't disappointed. This is a pretty good show that on the whole is pretty darned funny with weird and wonderful perspectives brought down by Mr Gervais himself, who seems in his element here walking around and talking about some of the ills in our society.

My main gripe with the show was its length. It came in at 70-odd minutes long, and while that in itself is short, it was further compounded by the fact that Ricky Gervais kept walking back and fourth for water, or notes, etc. Which leads to the second gripe of the show, which is the fact that while this was stand up comedy the show seemed incredibly...tame. I don't mean the jokes were bad, but the show seemed very structured and prepared so at times it seemed almost like a comic lecture rather than a stand up like Billy Connoly, Robin Williams or Ross Noble who will go off on tangents and keep the atmosphere loose.

I must admit though that some of the material was very good and there is no doubt that Ricky Gervais is a clever man. Politics is a show that is clever and funny and will remind you of the comic talent that Britain has to offer.

After massive success with the hit TV show 'The Office', Ricky Gervais decided to turn his hand to stand-up comedy, again to massive success with the hilarious show 'Animals'. Now, Ricky is back! This time tackling the world of politics, and once again; to great success. Although sometimes Ricky goes off the boil a little bit, the show is almost constantly hilarious, and some of Ricky's jokes will no doubt generate belly laughs; unless you're easily offended. Threads involving Humpty Dumpty, the drought in Africa and the holocaust (I told you it's not for everyone!) are particular highlights. Gervais is great because he goes that extra mile that most comedians wouldn't dare tread on. From the moment it starts, with a hilarious sequence involving Ricky and an Egyptian gay man in a wheel chair (he's not gay really), you know you're going to be in for a stand up show that is likely to offend, and offend it does. But when taken in good humour, Gervais' humour is witty and intelligent and I recommend this show to anyone that enjoys this style of comedy. Oh...and just so you know, he doesn't do the dance.