Ricky Gervais Live 3: Fame (2007)

People are voting emotionally.

Beautiful, moving film.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

After his previous shows 'Animals' and 'Politics' Ricky Gervais comes up with his third show 'Fame'. I've seen all three of them and to me Animals was the best followed by Fame and then Politics. But I liked all three of them, it's just my kind of humor. There are alot of good stand-up-comedians and I count Ricky Gervais in that list. Not only has he a good sense of sarcastic humor but he also has a great and unique way to bring it. Most of the time he's just playing two different characters having a conversation that leads to a joke, and he does that with his specific I-couldn't-care-less-face, whilst mumbling and mimicking at the perfect moment. Alot of his jokes are offensive, so you have to like that kind of humor, which I do, otherwise you won't have a great night watching his shows. I think you can laugh about anything because life is too short to take everything so serious, and Ricky gets that like no-one else.

I should probably just come right out and say that, when it comes to stand-up, I'm not totally sold on Ricky Gervais. There, you know now so why not just vote "useless" on my review and move on to only reading things that you agree with. For those still reading, I do find him funny enough to be worth coming back for more, but just that he works best when his un-PC and socially-awkward humour is set in context of real life reactions as he does so well in The Office and Extras. With an audience it doesn't quite work as well for me.Regardless though I came back to watch Fame and found what I had in the past – a decent and funny show but it never had me rolling on the floor begging for him to stop. What it did do was consistently amuse me though with the subjects he covered and the way he wore his personae so convincingly. He is of course quite smug but he does combine that well with a streak of self-depreciation that takes the edge off it just about enough not to grate too badly. The material covers AIDS, charity work, fame, unworthy diseases and other stuff that allows him to be irritated and mostly it is pretty funny and creatively done.It is a matter of taste though and for me it was just "good" but then I felt the same way after Politics and Animals and I did prefer Fame to those, so this is probably going to give the fans everything they are looking for.

The writer and star of The Office has really made a name for himself since, winning BAFTAs, a British Comedy Award, Emmys and a Golden Globe, and he has done well with stand-up comedy as well, Animals is very good, Politics is alright, and this was his third show. Ricky Gervais performs to an audience at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo in London, with a show based on the theme of fame. The majority of the jokes are based on this theme, of course he leaves room to delve into other subjects, including about Autistic people, Big Brother and his career. Gervais started his career playing versions of himself and characters that are perceived as annoying bastards, he does continue this persona on stage, and it works fantastically well, this is a reasonably funny show. Ricky Gervais was number 49 on The Comedians' Comedian, he was number 18 on Britain's Favourite Comedian, and he was number 11 on 100 Greatest Stand-Ups. Good!

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning As a performer, Ricky Gervais is a bit of an anomaly. Unbearably smug yet relentlessly self-depreciating, his act is a style of it's own and one which has carved his way to international super-stardom. He's starring in big films across the pond now, such as Stardust and Night at the Museum and from his demeanor on TV, success does seem to have gone to his head a bit. Yet his success will guarantee him an audience with shows such as Fame. But that's surely what his fans will be expecting, relentless humorous stabs at celeb related stories in the headlines and on the instantness of it nowadays? But like his previous Politics, Ricky unfortunately wonders off the subject a bit too much, letting his act wonder off into totally unrelated material which, though quite funny, wastes the potential of what could have been. It'll pass, especially for fans, but the big man might want to learn a bit about discipline if he doesn't want to risk alienating any lovers. ***