Ricky Gervais | Full Q&A | Oxford Union

I think it's a stronger joy than the one that Bernie Sanders stiffened, that he was here two weeks ago, very well done, thank you, thank you for coming today. It will be a pleasure. I'll ask a few questions and then hope

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y you'll have some fun and witty questions to ask. Well, we'll also have some from the audience, so I mentioned in my introduction that you're on tour right now and you've been spending a lot of time this year on it and that's after seven years of your previous performance. the tour what brought you back um well I never left it's just that I kept getting rejected and I think the difference was that I always considered stand-up as my second or third job and I thought of myself as a writer director and and the shows TV and movies came first, you can't, you can't do a tour and then change your mind because the tickets have been sold, so you have to know that you're not going to do something for a long time and I kept doing more. things and I went and when you do it all yourself, if you write it and direct it, you know three hours of television, which is what I do for a series that takes me a year, you know, the office extras Derek Idiot Abroad, which is the two series and a special is three years of work and you can't really interrupt that so I just got second place but now I don't know why but it's number one on my list.

Now I could, I could leave television and movies. I only do stand-up because I love it more than ever. I don't know why I realized what a privilege it is. It's kind of the last bastion of self-censorship outside of the novel. You know, what you say is what they hear. There's no and interfering is a good time, it's a very good time to do stand-up and I think, um, I think I've probably acquired the rights of seniors. I'm at that age where I can say what I want like you used to do, you know. Yeah, I love it more than ever so you just said now you get up great because no one interferes and you're obviously famous for saying what you think you're probably one of the most controversial comics.

Do you think there's a real movement in the industry today to be more sensitive and hold back and be afraid of offending in the first place? If someone says you're controversial, they're only right by definition because they said it. You know, I think. um, you know, Darwin was controversial when he came up with, you know, how do the species you know work? I think people lump you in with shocking comedians who try to hurt people's feelings or say things that you know are like trolls and I'm not, I always do it for a reason you know that and I've always said just because you're offended don't It means you're right, some people are offended by a quality, so I'm never trying to offend, but this new tour is about freedom of speech, offensive culture and all that, but I've never considered myself, I don't know, I think I got that reputation from Golden.

Balloons maybe where I gently joke with some of the richest and most privileged people in the world and they can get it, but I mean, if I can justify every joke, I can justify it and I think some people get offended when they confuse the subject of the joke. with the real goal, especially when it comes to taboo topics, and I deal with taboo topics for a reason because I want to take the audience to that place that they haven't been before, you know, I want people to know that it's a joke. about something bad is not the same as something bad, it's not even necessarily tolerating the bad, it could be aunt, the bad, it could be veiled with irony or satirical or whatever, but I think people have to, you know, look , look. what a joke is the real point so I would just say I'm controversial because I talk about controversial topics.

I don't think the content is funny because comedians always get asked if there's anything you wouldn't joke about, but Journalists don't get asked if there's anything they wouldn't write about and all we're doing is discussing a topic, but very quickly and hope

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y with a punchline, so it just depends on the joke, the comedy comes from a good or bad place. what seems like cruelty or, you know, controversy, is sometimes made up, so you know on the subject of things that journalists wouldn't write about and what comics would make fun of and what they wouldn't, do you think people?

It can effectively satirize a joke about what is happening in current politics in the United Kingdom or the United States. You know you've said some things about the general election? You've said some things about Trump. Do you think that's something people should make fun of or is it too important? Do you know what you can make fun of? everything but you have it, you have it, you know that people have the right to be angry and offended, not to come back to you or make fun of you, so it's not about whether you're allowed to, it's what people want. find some kind of justification, but morality is not absolute and it is relative and an offense is subjective, so you know that the feeling affects you, so you know with Merak in particular or does it come down to kind of two tribes now that you are you're either with him or you're against him and then I try to keep politics out of comedy because I think comedy is an intellectual pursuit and as soon as you start trusting that the audience agrees with you, suddenly you come around and I think that you lose something. the comedian Lee, you know, on both sides, you know, I've seen, I won't name him, what I've seen, it's a northern comic and he came out and just said what are we going to do with all these immigrants and he got a round of applause and I thought that's not a joke, so well, I wasn't offended, I was just offended that it wasn't a joke, what was offensive to me was, you know, you have to hit that, so I have to be careful with politics, you're not just expressing your side and I think it's also very important in comedy if I'm going to pursue something and I'm the butt of the joke sometimes you already know that and it's funny to me that in all my work, whether it's in the office or on my feet, I'm usually satirizing ego and prejudice and all that stuff and I often play the guy who's wrong when I started, I won something called the eleven o'clock show, it was a satirical news show.

I played some sort of right-wing, out-of-touch bigot, well, you know, with heavy satire, people got it and this year I had already started writing this and because there was such an angry divide, you know, suddenly on Twitter half the people had Magga there, you know, and the flag victory and her holding a gun and the other half were crying. and I just thought and now if I do that and I kind of fall on the wrong side, ironically, I don't want anyone in the room to think for a second that I'm actually like that because I didn't realize that.

People like that really existed and we're proud of it and it's so funny now in the last few years people think they've won something like after Brexit people were coming out with banners saying we won let's go home and I was thinking what? Won? You had a vote and what did you do? What do you mean you won? It's a scissors. There is a strange change in mentality. There is a there is a there is a vitriol in politics. It's like they're validated where you know, but. I do, I try to stay away from good comedy, yeah, and one thing that you're good at that you alluded to now is that you're not afraid to divide opinions, you're not afraid, you know, some people say I don't agree. with you. and some people say I agree with you is that the same thing has become more common as you've progressed in your career and become more successful, well again, it's if everyone agrees with you, you're in an echo chamber.

You, you just chose, you just chose your people to talk to, so I made a tweet the other week that just said this tweet is controversial and I did a poll and it came out fifty percent, you know, controversy. it's just someone saying someone someone else disagrees with, but I don't really know. I am never afraid to speak on any topic, but I have to be sure that I have something to say and what I say. it's fair even if that, as I say, is veiled in irony because it's unfair or stupid or that's all it's an argument really it's just an argument and I mean, the important thing for me is that everyone is everyone, no one has to laugh.

In fact, I appreciate both the gasps and the laughter because that means they were listening, you know, I think it's an offense, it's good, offense makes people think, it makes them think, it makes them think of another argument, you have to come up with an argument because I'm tired of people saying I'm offended I want to say it so what does that mean? You're just telling me your feelings. I have knee pain, what do we do about it now? I'm on the topic of your Twitter from looking at your Twitter page earlier. I think you have, you know, over 12, 12 and a half million followers, they spit better than the

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I think it's 27,000 that we have right now, but um. and through your Twitter page you talk about animal rights, you talk about other issues that are important to you and that is that an effective means for change is how it really is, I know, I mean, practically speaking years ago, It would take you months and maybe years to get a hundred thousand signatures outside Tesco, you know, for a petition and that's the magic number because that's when it's heard in Parliament and voted on and I've been part of five six different campaigns that have gotten so far that it's good, it does, it's good to mobilize people because, um, there are a lot of people who don't let a lot of people navigate it.

I mean, a lot of this nonsense, you know a lot of idiots on Twitter, but there are a lot of idiots in high places. Street, you still have to go there, you know, and I and my new show blame Twitter for the beginning of the disappearance of something ironic about humanity. I say that I have lived the best 50 years of humanity. you know, and now it's going the other way, but Twitter was the one that started making popularity more important than being right, you know, and people have detected symptoms of that in all walks of life because it's about likes, retweets, blocked, someone not.

I don't agree with you so you create your own echo chamber just like Facebook and you also started this ridiculous myth. You know that, in my opinion, it is worth as much as your opinion. Now people say things like my opinion is worth as much as. your facts i think were just not true it's just that you know so it's a concern in this post the true theory that the more you tell a lie the more people will take it as truth, it doesn't. right, so what do you think should happen? I mean, you can't stop stupid people from talking, there are wrong people, you know, you know your direction, you can't and I quote: I like stupid people because they make me look smart, they bring the GPA so low that they put me in the top percentile. , so I wouldn't have anything to say against it.

I mean, stupidity, ignorance is the biggest danger to you, money, you know, it really is. I mean, that's a very broad thing to say. and but um, I mean, there are some incredibly stupid people in the world, but like I say, I'm a big fan of their numbers on what they do to the average, so I'm continuing this talk on the topic of social media, you just said it's a great opportunity to organize people, bring people together and probably a good byproduct of your fame is that you get to promote causes that you care about, yeah that's something.

You think all celebrities have that kind of following they should, no I do, I know. I never expect anyone to care as much as I do about anything and everything, and I don't expect to be surprised when I don't care. about his thing, you know everyone, everyone, everyone is different, I've always done this, people say, you know, I've always cared about animal court, you just know, I guess I had less of an audience when I was 20 or 25, no , I would. because I can't, I can't stand it, you know, I don't know why, you know, it's always, it's always done, it's the one thing that always makes my blood boil and even to the point of depression.

I know I just don't understand animal cruelty. I dont understand her. I don't understand any cruelty, but at least people can talk, so no, it's just a you know, they said how I've always been. I've always been like this. I have always loved nature and animals. I have always fought. It was a privilege to have a wild animal, you know, or domestic, but I think when I'm at home we have a rule: the cat is asleep on our lap. the other one has to have the drinks we can't bother him I just don't want to bother this is so lovely and peaceful and yeah and I do, I guess we're probably too emotional about animals so we personify them and but yeah. but I've always felt that way, I probably care more about the individual quality of an animal than I do about animal husbandry or wildlife conservation in any way.

I just think that if there are two last leopards, don't put them in. a cage and try to save the species, let them go and okay, that's the missing species, but you know, I care about the rights of the individual animal, all right, so, moving on to a different topic that I mentioned in my introduction, already You know, the office is being redone I think six or seven times we've seen each other this year Remax local, yeah, I think the last one just happened, it's not out yet. I think it's a finished version, but nowYou know, when you first came up with the script and the idea that ended 15 years ago, do you think it's a show that would be commissioned today?

Do you think comedy would be commissioned in the same place? So if I had done my own little demo, because if you think about it, it doesn't jump off the page. You know, a middle-aged man tells a joke. that nobody laughs looks at the camera touches his tie it's I think I think comedies you know should be performed so I had to show them what I wanted to say and that way and it was a slightly different show because it was it was about because it was packed of realism, it was a mockumentary, so it had to be real, as did the dialogue, so did the characterization, and the way we spoke was very much non-verbal, we stopped halfway in a sense that we're going um um we use our hands we look around we don't look at the person we look at our feet when we're lying down so it had to be seen because on the page you couldn't tell what kind of person David Brent It's about how he acts and why he acts, you know, yeah It would have been a simple sitcom that wasn't an effect documentary, it was nothing, but when you realize that he is bragging because he thinks he is going to be found out, well, now he brings it to life. now he's a man, narcissistic baby, but an early prototype no, nothing, nothing about Trump, you know, he's, he embarrassed David Brent, so that's what the movie, life on the road, everything analyze is how the world has changed.

Those 15 years and you know he's kind of an early reality star and by today's standards he doesn't have the power today because since then we've had things like The Apprentice where people go on about how he would destroy anyone he meets. gets in my way and people come on Big Brother and promise that they've been bad and I think it's a strange thing now that there's no difference between fame and infamy, people do bad things to be famous and they get rewarded for it, There are people who don't do anything to be famous, they just live their life like an open wound and they get rewarded for it, I mean, I think that's a reward, you know, and some people use it as therapy, with what How often have they done it?

They see you as a celebrity who has often fallen from grace through no fault of their own, but they go on Celebrity Big Brother and say: I want to show the public a different side of me. I'm thinking, why do you care? They want you to fight. once again you know this is not this is not good for you so when it is yes it is it everything everything comes together that reality that bravado that machismo bragging about how ruthless you are in business and it's very Do you think we now have a warped sense of reality given the abundance of all these different reality shows out there and people who are supposedly just regular gay people on TV saying ridiculous things that are all over the internet and everything?

Well, it's not even reality anymore, isn't it because it's so artificial? You know, now they condense it. Now they invented situations. There is no real anymore. There are no real reality shows anymore. If it is a little pure, it is bound to attract. our kind of voyeuristic tendencies and we're all guilty, you know, you know, suitable. nervous breakdowns in Big Brother we are all part of it and you know that's drama when it's real it's conflict we don't want to see 12 people sitting around having a nice conversation we want a fist fight yes You're going to know that's like that, it attracts, in in a way it appeals to the worst of our instincts.

I think earlier we touched on the idea of ​​you know, ego and prejudice, you said this is something you were interested in exploring in your toenails called humanity and I think that probably sums up a lot of your different work, but for film and television, looking at people's stories, their lives and their egos, turning to yourself instead of whatever character you've written or played. Do you feel satisfied with what you are doing today? Are there any other great jobs? challenge or big project that you would like to take on and give you more satisfaction I don't know, I've never done it.

I always got up in the morning and wanted to fill the day with as much fun as possible, you know? I guess everything I've done is also a bit existential and from the office it's about, you know, people turning 14 are doing the right thing Derek, it was about people at the end of their life, what can they convey even my kids but flanimals was about the kind of futility of life and nature and ironic deaths and I don't know why that's really I think it's funny I think it's funny life I think it's funny because we take everything so seriously that we care about everything with passion we have fights wars we worry about the little things and then we die and the north efer and there is nothing it was useless meaningless we would go back to tend to the stars so I have always thought that I want to fill my days with fun and if the end was tomorrow, we would be happy oh well, I hope not, but no, no, but you know, I often log out of Facebook and Twitter.

I disconnect. I hope you die in your sleep and that's the best I can do. I can tell anyone I hope you die in a state if someone said find you if we all died in our sleep I wouldn't care at all you know oh there would be nothing to worry about because that's what we worry about don't worry about not existing we worry oh God mine, will I be? I'm not going to get crushed by a safe and be on this street and fall on a spike. Will it be a long, drawn-out death? I'm going to be eaten by wolves well, I guess I said no, you're going to die drunk in your sleep, I'll go do it, well, I'm on that uplifting note, let's get some questions from the audience if you want to ask them. one question and please raise your hand if you are selected wait for the microphone to arrive before asking your question is there one in particular you would like to choose oh sorry it was that one where well I did it with someone but oh no , I know.

I don't want to, this is, oh, this is horrible, I don't want to, well, I'll find some of this right, the person over there, toward the front third row. Can you see Karl Pilkington's radio shows coming back any time? it's people gasping and I miss it and I and I even occasionally listen to some of the old ones, although everyone hears that question, it's our Karl Pilkington podcast coming back and I don't think it works, I think, I think Karl became my little public experiment was like a cross between Elsa rigid unscripted was unscripted and that was that's that's that's that's real it was was unscripted but it was where he was like my little experiment I like a cross between I don't I don't know have you seen the lawnmower man movie?

It was like, okay, a reference to anyone who's seen it, but I always thought that car was how I found it. I found him like a ten-thousand-year-old caveman and shaved him, thawed him, put clothes on him. in it and then I tried to teach him some art and philosophy and science, and I think because he had a good brain, I kept telling him, "you have a good brain, you have a brain, you just don't use it well." and you know, he just discovered, found things that interested him, which was furious and often apocryphal or meaningless, just things on the Internet.

You know, baby, baby, born half monkey, half too, it's not true Karl, it's not true, go see. he goes he's just a hairy boy he's a hairy boy he's a hair he's one hundred percent human he has a lot of hair he says here he's half monkey no matter what he says his car isn't half monkey so but I think he I think he became a little bit more mundane, it's that chemistry that you guys captured on that show, it's hard to replicate that kind of chemistry, oh, you couldn't, you couldn't come up with it, that's what I figured out, he opened his Once, little Slackjaw said something and my ears perked up. like this and I thought this guy is interesting, it's like I found him under a rock, so I don't think it's the same.

I don't think it's the same. which is kind of retired now, no matter how many times I hear it, I still hear it, I hear people tweeting me similar clips and I had completely forgotten about them, but it's like the first time you heard about something, I could introduce you a concept and it's the first time here and I can hear his brain working, it's like a silence where you know it's something for me like childish, it's something that they said that he. he said what's the most amazing fact ever oh cool what do you mean he was, they said tell me something that will blow my mind I said, I said well the infinite night room is pretty amazing I said okay, okay I said there were a lot of numbers Even as if even numbers were put together, he said no.

I told. I told him the theory that, you know, the infinity model and the infinite number of chimpanzees working on typewriters would write the computer. Shakespeare. I wouldn't have thought what he had said. if they read Shakespeare, I went, that's nothing, I said, that's that, it has nothing to do with it, right, my God, I just don't think they would do that, I don't know, they know, they eliminate the cognitive reason of that they have no other option. chosen monkeys to choose the reasons why they are just hitting like that and he just couldn't understand it, he couldn't understand that he was a yes, but I think he learned his lesson and I think he's more or less happy.

I just don't think it works well now. Thank you Ricky, thank you. Let's have another question. Let's go to the hand over there and the bright blue shirt. Hello Ricky, thank you very much for coming. I wanted to ask as kindly. As an aspiring comedian myself, you've had a really interesting experience. I remember in an interview or video with Chris Rock Seinfeld and Louie CK talking about how you had a strange path into comedy because you wrote that this may be the best sitcom of all time and then in years. Then I did stand-up, what advice would you give to aspiring comedians?

Secondly, real quick, are you ever going to work with Stephen Merchant again? Because I really miss all those projects you did with him. I thought they were amazing and finally, you do it? Have you ever read Facebook comments and if so, you were tempted to reply to them, okay? What was the first one that is not good? I got into comedy. I was already a comedian before I decided I was going to become a comedian. He just happened. I went to the radio show and I was supposed to be the leader of the speech. I have a normal job that I worked at. an office for ten years, which is what I based the office on and then I got a job at a radio station and I was supposed to go in and write little things for the DJs and because I'm so lazy I thought I'll do it myself so I went in , I turned up, I did funny things and you know, and then the bosses said, listen, you're rubbish at your real job, so do that and it grew and I became like channel four discovered comedy on XFM and all that, so when I did stand-up I thought I should do that and I went ahead and wrote my first four stand-up shows. them like I was doing them, you know, like an Edinburgh show or almost like a TV conference and then I went out and did it and it was okay, this one I figured out, I did it differently.

I feel like I think I came out with some things on the back of my hand I didn't use multimedia I didn't use you know any structure and I just talked and I feel like I'm a stand-up for the first time I feel like on this tour I can Let's say I'm a stand-up and the first four tours I was in the stadium, so I would say and here's another revelation that shouldn't be a revelation, it should be obvious, stage time is all you can, you can write and write and write and it can be very funny and they may laugh, but if you time it on stage, you're actually doing it.

I can't think of an analogy, there's nothing like it other than okay, you could learn to make pots in a pot. Plus, in theory, you could learn if you can watch YouTube. You could be an expert and until you get your hands on it, you'll know this is what you know. I think that's it you have stage time and our stage time is worth 50. hours writing if you haven't done it yet it's stage time it's just doing it doing it you know and if you can do it if you could do it every night um you know what you might be getting and it depends on what do you mean by good?

Do you mean good? You're good and it works every night for 15 people or you want to say I'm good because now I'm making money and I'm famous and everyone loves me. I mean the last one, yeah, well. so there is also a lot of luck, so my advice is to work hard and be lucky, but I think you have a passion for it, you have a voice, you have to find your voice, how old are you? 23 look 23 right, you are young and handsome, what do you want to be a comedian for yourself? Great, another question, so please let's go to the hand directly behind in the second row with the glasses, hello, with the adaptation of the British Office for American audiences Do you think the humor was also adapted and what do you think the difference is if Do you think there is any difference between British and American humor?

Well, I've thought about this a lot. Well, no. I mean, I'm right, but I have a good answer um well, there's no real difference in humor, certain humor, you know everyone.They are different in what they find funny, but humor is almost the same, it is, it is, it is, it is what we all have. we have and what we all use, I think when we say humor we mean comedy, American comedy is different, because we are all the same, you know, with external cultural references, you know, I think that and and and before we walk into the office even just doing stand-up people think it must be so what do you change to go to America I don't change anything I don't change I don't change the tap to force it or the pavement decide what you know what I I'm talking about, you know, I'm not talking about the winner from last night's older brother.

You don't know it, but when you do it, I try to deal with universal themes and outside of language barriers, people and people are the same. There are stupid people and they are intelligent people, that's the big difference, that's the only difference between dumb and smart at the moment, but I think the difference between American comedy and English comedy was highlighted in the difference between English office and American office. and that's in Britain, we like the underdogs, we love the underdogs, we have until they're no longer the underdogs, then we don't like them anymore, but we celebrate, we celebrate, we laugh and we almost accept failure, while the Americans are there , it's a myth that Americans still don't understand, this isn't ridiculous, it's a total myth, but they don't use it all the time like we do with the British, they meet, go or have a good haircut, they can't.

They can't they can't say oh, you look good buddy, okay, come on, what's wrong with you? I think that's the difference because David Brent was so bad at his work and horrible when he was so depressing that the American audience couldn't, couldn't, wouldn't have understood it, I think we had to do it. make Steve Carell a little likable and more positive, possibly better at his job, a little more attractive, but not too much because that's the truth and it all comes down to expectations and optimism and all that because Americans have been raised and you I know this better than I do, but I think Americans are raised to believe that they can be the next president of the United States.

The British have said that won't happen to you so don't bother and I think that's like it's raining. I think that's the big difference, it's the only thing one eye can see and then when we talk about the industry it's very different, the amount of entitlement is the amount of money that makes a big difference to what you get. on TV and stuff, but that has nothing to do with what you asked. I don't think so, but I guess I think pretty people are pretty much the same wherever you go, if they don't shoot you and your firstborn.

He's not dying of dysentery you know we worry about the same things we worry about what's happening what's happening in our world you know I've seen it all the time if you're watching TV and the news was a country, it just went down. , well, you would get all Mike, you didn't get milk, you know, we bring it back to you, we always bring it to you and the people of us, that's the same anywhere, great, thanks, let's go to the hand in the end of the row, hello Ricky, I just want to say that I'm a big fan of all your work, but also the extras in particular, which are definitely my favorites.

Thank you. I just want to know if I obviously don't expect him to go. do a revival or something, but if that were the case, or if you knew at the time that one of the celebrities had said no, is there a particular celebrity or type of celebrity that you would have liked to caricature? I don't have the opportunity, or even maybe in the modern climate, is there anyone new who would like to caricature? It would be difficult now because everyone does it now, everyone, when you know that television is now reduced to the length of a two-minute clip. on YouTube to get views the next day, everyone's done it, you know, there's, I mean, when the president of the United States gets on Twitter, you fight with reality stars, you know society is broken, so you know we used to take what we used to take really worthy people. and break them down like you know Shakespeare actors or you know, but now who's left, you know, I mean, we're not mother, the trays are doing karaoke in the car if she were alive now, so no, I don't know if I would do extras.

I don't know what, I don't know what the extras would have to do to satirize what's happening, right? I mean, it would be like a picturesque moment and then people would be like, "Oh, look, David Bowie, pretending to be fine." What do real presidents do? Now you know. I don't think it has legs. I don't know. I don't know what you should do. Who's left? Know? Obama. Did you know comedians over coffee and cars? Jerry Seinfeld, you know, yeah, I think that was from his time and he's only ten years old, look what's happened in ten years, what's next, so even though I miss it, I did, I really enjoyed it, but I enjoyed it, I want I mean, I enjoyed, you know, working. with my heroes and having fun with those people and deconstructing fame, but what I enjoyed the most is Andy and Maggie's relationship.

I like the real characters that they were and that's why I made them extras and not actors because I think they had to be people on the bottom rung looking at this crazy world and I think you always have to do that with comedy I think you have to there must be a hill that climb so I am I just don't I don't think there's anywhere to go now with celebrities and plus they're so into it now that they realize it's like if I do that then people will think I'm not like that, that was there for everyone. being willing to do anything to be on TV for a minute that's the problem we have, you know, I think people are like oh this is going to get 50 million views on YouTube.

I don't know who says no anymore. I don't know who says no. Who are these people that you know David Bao is great because he was the only thing he did and it was the last thing he did? You know that's special, but now you know that people go on American chat shows and show a clip they pay ping, play ping pong, you know, with masks or throw cream pies at each other, okay, why We are looking? There are no more interviews. I don't know why they are called chat programs anymore. There is no chat. It is only a game.

Well, maybe I should bring him back just to piss me off. I think we have time for two more questions, so let's go to the hand in the middle, there the white t-shirt. I will respond faster than we can get to everyone who wants. to ask a question, okay, um, because you haven't been Umbra Hollister, I think we should ask you if you would rather date a man who had a six-foot penis or would you rather date a man who, instead of one penis, had another little. man, the six foot penis, right, he's basically a six foot penis, but he can talk, would you be free to interpret what kind of questions I'm asking you, could you, can't you, can't you come up with a question and then back off, you haven't thought it through, then it's a six footer, it's a six foot penis, walking on testicles, presumably well, if it's not in it, now it will only get away with it here, so it doesn't have a face, so he has a face and then you could have a little face on the helmet, and he has clothes and just his dog wit coming out of his suit and tie, okay, yeah, and the other one, the other guy is him. a normal person, except instead of having a penis he has a little man and there is a little man with his own little man.

Do I have to worry about him too? What does he want to eat and drink? Well, I'm sure he wears one at least like Converse. with him or I know him well not in the restaurant that's still his penis he just looks like a little man very well so I think why do I date men anyway we could reverse it it's a six foot Volvo, keep the man I want, stay with The original question, okay, sure, a six-foot penis. Remember he was saying the world has changed. Did you ask Arafat this? I would listen to it.

You can't see me walking down the street with a six-. standing penis, so I'm going to do that and no one needs to know that my new boyfriend, for some reason, has another little boyfriend in his pants, okay, let's move on. Oh, how was the final

union

? Wow, yeah, Eric, thanks for your talk today. I'm just going to mention that it was quite me when you said you don't include politics in your comedy when you did a show called politics. Yeah, I was going to say you're in Oxford right now in case you didn't. I know, and now, according to the question, Oxford and Cambridge have produced some that you actually know, like really good comedians, and there are growing concerns of Stephen Fry and many others, you yourself went to UCL.

I wonder if you think you need to be smart to be funny. Is a certain amount of intelligence required for comedy? Well I do not know. The answer would be no, you don't need to be smart to be funny because there are many types of humor, right? But if you're talking about you know, a comedian who has something to say and who also makes people think, then I think you certainly have to be analytical and I think you have to have an angle, so then you're going to have to come up with something and I think that I also have to have a certain amount of fairness I think I'm very I try to make my jokes I try to make the targets fair III I don't joke about things that people can't help I joke about people's behavior often or and that's just personal and I also think it's an advantage if you can make people think as well as laugh because many laugh easily.

I could fall over and you'd laugh, thank you very much, in fact one of them you'd film for YouTube, I imagine it and it's 250 pounds so I think comedy is better, it's probably clever, but then there's something really nice and visceral and you know , it's fun to see someone fall, you know, I'm serious. I say that somewhat metaphorically, but you know, I love Lauren Hardy and the great thing about them was the kind of relationship that was so precarious and there we were laughing at their situation with the pretense of being one and the guy who didn't care, but The guy didn't care about the pretentious guy who thought he was smarter than the other guy, he always ended up face down in the duck pond, so I think if you look at most of the comedy, there's something smart about it, there's another layer. instead of just watching YouTube clips of people falling out of basements, which is very funny, well, I was just going to say the reason I asked that question because you were talking about Karl Pilkington and I don't know if you'd say he's an intelligent man. but it certainly was incredibly funny it was incredibly funny but it was the attitude that was funny and if you took it by itself the relationship still existed it still needed a couple of pretentious media guys thinking they were winning but they were losing it because he didn't care whatever we thought, so there was still a bit of a dynamic, not just if Karl Pilkington went on the radio and said, "Okay, world is what I think, monkeys where people get wise." Talk to her. but because he was egged on by a couple of pseudo-intellectual media guys who thought they were embarrassing, he became a texture and people wanted him to win, people loved him, winning, winning maybe made me laugh or prove me right first. something you know so there was still something going on he wasn't just he wasn't just a man saying stupid things so yeah does that make sense?

Yeah, I think so, thank you very much, okay, let's take one last bonus super quick. ask then these two when I choose one I'm sorry, yes, hold the microphone, okay, I don't want the responsibility, thank you. I was wondering about your relationship with Stephen Merchant and how the creative process changes when you work with a partner versus good, um. very fast with any collaboration. I have worked with Steve. I've worked with Matt Robinson. I've worked with David Koepp and I always had a rule which is let me get my way or I'm in a bad mood and one veto and it's over.

So what you don't do is never submit two different scripts and then fight for yourself, work on something and if one of you doesn't like something, it doesn't come in because I don't want to keep anything that one of you doesn't like with so often that they might throw it away, they might throw away 90% of the stuff, but the part that's left they both love, but other than that, there are so many ways to collaborate. You know, the team, you know, I think the best idea wins. I think that's what it comes down to, but if you're an outsider, then you want to do it your way. time, so there's always a commitment to another person, to other people and two heads are better than one, but I always think that the problem I have with collaboration is that it doesn't feel like you know that with writing in team there is less fun for me.

I like the day, but I don't like doing things that won't come, but I won't come, they didn't come at all. Creating with all love is a hard thing to say and I do it because it's fun to think about things, so if I was in a room and I was, you know, a tractor presenter and I had all these writers and they came up with everything for me. I wouldn't enjoy it because what I'm missing is the fun of thinking about things, does that make sense? That's what excites me, having an idea, that's my adrenaline rush, and then trying not to screw it up, so I just go into a room and get the script and then read or OQ, but that doesn't meannothing for me and it could be great and some people love it and it could be lucrative, but I feel like even to a certain extent I don't love it that much. how to come up with things, so I think it depends on what kind of person you are.

I think I'm an egomaniac. Well, unfortunately, that's all we have time for, but thank you very much for coming today. It's a It's a great way to thank everyone here and if you could, please remain seated as Ricky leaves the room, but please join me in thanking Ricky for joining us today.