Ricky Gervais Science Live Review

“Like many others are saying, this really wasn't good....”

Written on: 10/09/2010

Like many others are saying, this really wasn't good. The previous show 'Fame' was lame because he'd started to talk about himself as some kind of demi-God which, frankly, doesn't connect with the audience. Science goes even further in its disconnection: over half the show was 'me, me, me' and lacked any real tear-inducing or stomach-crunching laughter.



Ricky still introduces himself as 'a little bit fat', despite this being a thing of the past - he now clearly has a personal trainer and is half the size he used to be. This sentiment is important because the rest of the show follows suit - it's just a lot of hot air and felt wholly contrived. Yes, comedy shows are learnt and practiced, yet there was just a lack of audience connection here. Despite being right at the front in the theatre, I spent almost all my time watching him hanging to the right centre of the stage - not owning it or using the space particularly well. The whole Frankenstein props seemed a bit out of place and irritating too.



And for those saying he was 'un-PC'... not distinctly. That's half the point in comedy anyway and I've seen far, far funnier and more adventurous comics at the Comedy Store in Leicester Square. There are too many points where he justifies or philosophically banters about things, undoing the very political-incorrectness that he so clearly seeks. Not sure if this had anything to do with the Universal Pictures cameras rolling throughout - I'm sure the bigwigs there will only let so much pass for the DVD release...



Fame was the platform into the mainstream and since then Gervais has been limp and non-connecting; physically and comically half the man he used to be.



Two stars solely for his rant about spiders and Noah. Needed some more of that talk to gather momentum which, ultimately, this show failed to do...