Click Here To Watch Full Episode

The show's original format was more interactive, with features, guests, phone-ins, and audience interaction through listeners' letters. During one show, Gervais and Merchant attempted to censor the Super Furry Animals' "The Man Don't Give a Fuck" live by pulling down the fader and making a noise in place of each of the fifty-plus mentions of the word "fuck" in the song. However, the pressure became too much for Gervais, who messed up and swore in frustration.

In August 1998, Gervais and Merchant took voluntary redundancy after the Capital Radio Group purchased Xfm to resolve financial issues.

The episodes that kick off the third season include a wonderful riff on the preponderance of charities (Karl insists that only one charity should be allowed to solicit per calendar year) and a movie pitch that's a loopy combination of the Tom Cruise–starring Mission: Impossible and John Frankenheimer's strange Seconds.

There are also a number of other smaller touches, such as an idea for a coaster that's attached to a drinking glass, that have an amusing hint of the dada.

But despite its various flights of inspiration, The Ricky Gervais Show is too settled into a predictable groove. The punchlines are almost always centered on Karl's flamboyant ignorance and idiocy, which Ricky and Stephen eagerly exploit in the hopes of mining comedic gold.

A series as uneven as this could benefit from a looser structure that occasionally allows Ricky and Stephen to serve as the butt of a few jokes, but by this point the show's formulaic template appears to be pretty cemented. The Ricky Gervais Show isn't quite what Alvy Singer might call a dead shark, but it's looking a little wounded.

Click Here To Watch Full Episode

Jon Death....that sums you up as far as your humour is concerned. If you don't know funny my friend (which you clearly don't), why bother writing a review. Please ignore this void.

Anyway.....the show is dangerously funny to the point where i was sure i was going to soil myself or cough up a lung!! Its filmed in a studio setting which is then animated over the top (excellently i might add) with sketches of the topics punctuating the set up. The discussions between the three consists of the thoughts and opinions on various topics by Ricky, Stephen and the irresistibly stupid Karl Pilkington.

As a concept it doesn't seem that this would work anywhere nearly as well as it does and just underlines the exceptional and original talent of Ricky for coming up with something so new and fresh. This man is truly a history making talent and deserves the monocle of true genius in my book. You only have to look at the past work of this chubby funster to see that this man only operates in the entertaining and unique.