The Ricky Gervais Show just isn't very funny

As The Ricky Gervais Show entered its second run, it failed to raise more than a few meagre chuckles.

Interview: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant

Hit animated comedy The Ricky Gervais Show returns to UK screens this week with a second series!

The animated versions of Ricky Gervais's podcasts, featuring Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington, return for a second run. The voice-over describes them as a "series of pointless conversations", which is about right. Still, they're funny men, it's not without charm, and the animations are amusing.

Series two for this Gervais vehicle, which has turned the podcasts Ricky did with Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington into a Flintstones-style cartoon. First up, Karl pitches a film where the hero has a brain transplant, and there's more from Monkey News.

Karl Pilkington's star has risen since the first series of this Hanna-Barbera-style animation set to his podcasts with Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais, mostly thanks to his excruciatingly funny Sky1 series An Idiot Abroad. There is an allusion to that new-found fame in this opener, in which Pilkington explains his latest, splendidly baffling film pitch that starts as a Frankenstein thriller and segues into a lesbian drama, and which Gervais and Merchant waste no time picking holes in. A lo-fi treat, as ever.

The Hanna-Barbera-style animated version of Ricky Gervais's podcast returns for a second series. The cartoon conversations focus mainly on Karl Pilkington's childlike ignorance and dopey ideas. As Gervais and Stephen Merchant goad him on, Pilkington lays out his daft theories while the other two shoot him down with the kind of merciless mockery that anywhere else would be considered bullying. It's a ritual that is easy to dislike but it delivers laughs. "It really is the ramblings of a mental case!" Gervais squeals, as Pilkington outlines his idea for a film about brain transplants starring Clive Warren (he means Owen) and Rebecca De Mornay. Odd casting aside, it's not a bad idea.

We really can't abide the concept of Gervais, nowadays. Honestly. He's a once-fat irritant. The level of irony that he slathers everything in has become so pressing it actually crushes him. Which is, we suppose, ironic. He mocks everything that he is and he doesn't even realise it. Add to this, the fact this show shouldn't even have his name on it. It should obviously be called Bully Pilkington, and this really shouldn't be our 'Pick Of The Day'...

But then we had to preview it for another publication. And we watched it and laughed. Three or four times. There's no denying that on its own terms, The Ricky Gervais Show is funny. There's something there. Whether it's the simple prodding of Karl or his extended, mixed-up ideas, there's something there. And it is okay, as soon as it's over you can easily go back to loathing Gervais. We did, no problem.

Ricky Gervais Show Review: The Musings Of a Pilkington

As Ricky Gervais continues his mission to make his best friend Karl Pilkington an A-List celebrity, the second series of The Ricky Gervais Show dances back onto our screens, with more ridiculous animated ponderings than you could shake a Golden Globe at.

The animated version of Ricky Gervais's podcast, which featured Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington and earned a Guinness World Record for the most downloads, returns for a second series. It's the usual banter as Pilkington pitches a peculiar idea for a film and Merchant reads extracts from Pilkington's diary, in which he shares his thoughts about Australia, camping and the in-laws.

The Ricky Gervais show, review

Chances are you noticed the furore surrounding Ricky Gervais's hosting of this year's Golden Globes ceremony.