Up next in 10
Ricky Gervais joins Global's Charlie Girling to discuss comedy in the modern age, cancel culture, and his new animated series.
Alley Cats is out on Netflix on 7 August.
Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp
#rickygervais #comedy #cancelculture #LBC
LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK.
Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/
Sign up to LBC's weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
It's fake online rage. I've tried to infuse this classic British sitcom into adult animation about
0:08
cats. We're sort of a slave to the the media now. It's like only fools and horses till death
0:14
has two part, mixed with cats. Ricky Gervais, pleasure to see you. Pleasure to be here. It's
0:21
very exciting. So just when everyone thinks that they kind of know what to expect from you
0:26
Then you come out with an animated sitcom about some foul-mouthed cats
0:31
Yeah. Which is not what I was expecting. Is this something that's been, because I understand this is like a COVID baby, right
0:38
It was. That was the first idea during lockdown. My tour in Supernature had been postponed
0:49
Recording Series 3 of Afterlife had been postponed. I thought, oh, I know what they can't stop
0:54
They can't stop animation. I could record it on Zoom and then I drew a sketch of me as Gus, my character
1:02
and that's when it all started in the course. Four years later, it gets commissioned
1:07
So that was the seed of the idea. Some people say, why cats and not dogs
1:13
Because cats don't care about humanity as much as dogs. I just love the independence
1:21
I love that cats, they're like one foot tall, but they think they're lions
1:26
I just love cats. I've always been fascinated with cats. You know, cats are the only animal that domesticated themselves
1:32
They just wandered into humanity about 10,000 years ago and went, feed me, just feed me
1:38
They're amazing animals. And so I suppose I've sort of loved cats
1:44
and studied cats all my life. But it is a sitcom as well. You know, every little bit of it is slightly different
1:51
to what I usually do, but it's definitely in my wheelhouse. It is an animated sitcom
1:57
It just happens to be cats instead of middle-aged fat blokes, but they play a role as well
2:04
I've tried to infuse this classic British sitcom into adult animation about cats
2:10
So it's like only fools and horses till death has two part
2:15
mixed with cats. And I like you compared Gus to Del Boy a little bit as well, didn't you
2:22
Yeah, he's a classic British sitcom lead. He thinks he cooler than he is He thinks he smarter than he is He mouthy He the self leader of the gang
2:39
There's a bit of class sort of conflict in there because one of their best mates who comes around every day
2:48
that doesn't live with them is a pet, a posh middle-class pet
2:52
That's Tom Basden, right? Played by Tom Basden. And it might be my single favourite thing about the series
2:58
as us ganging up on him because he knows too much. You know, he's smart
3:05
He knows about everything and we just don't believe him. We just think he's an idiot because all these things can't be true
3:12
He tells us about, like, science and sociology and all these. We just think he's an idiot
3:17
And you take the piss out of him for being neutered as well. Yes, that's the other thing, yeah
3:22
He's, yeah, we put everything into one cat. And yeah, Tom Basden's great
3:28
And they all are. And as you know, I've worked with them all before. And I cast it before I wrote it
3:32
There's a great tradition, especially in America, I'd say, they do it brilliantly, those sort of very irreverent South Park
3:37
those very irreverent animations. But you said this is a very quintessentially British sitcom
3:42
So what makes it British particularly? I just think the way they are, the attitude
3:48
that sort of, it won't happen to you, don't worry about it, you know
3:52
But it's also got that spirit. It's also got that spirit of the blitz
3:58
that they know they're at the bottom of the pile. They know they're not going to live very long
4:02
and they know bad things happen every day. But they go, it's all right, though. You know, at least we're cats
4:08
You know, they've still got that fighting spirit that I like. But the themes are universal
4:16
In The Office, everyone thought that is so quintessentially British. There's things set in slough, you know
4:22
But the themes are universal. You know, it's getting on. It's, you know, living your best life
4:29
So I think it's uplifting as well. I think if you watch the whole series
4:33
I think you'll feel great. I think it's a really lovely, it's got that Disney Pixar journey to it as well
4:42
Nice bite-sized episodes as well, which I enjoyed. I want people to watch it all at once
4:47
Do you think comedy is getting harder because life is just so generally weird at the moment
4:53
Or do you think it's getting harder because people sort of know what to expect
4:58
and everyone is a bit more sort of jaded, I suppose? Well I think you know it cyclic We been through these things I been through three of these phases in my lifetime and they probably existed long before me
5:15
and they exist long after, where people say, oh, whatever you call it
5:19
whether you call it political correctness or wokeness or, you know, cancel culture, whatever you call it
5:26
it happens every 10, 15 years. You know, the only thing that changes is
5:30
who's the dominant mob this time? Who is the mob this time
5:35
Who have we got to watch what we say? Who's going to try and stir up trouble
5:40
But I think, again, people are so over it. If you ignore it, it doesn't exist
5:46
You know, I think people say, oh, so-and-so's cancelled. And they say, yeah, I was cancelled
5:51
Well, you are, because you said you are. If someone says to me, you're cancelled, I go, no, I'm not
5:55
No, I'm not. No, I'm still selling out arenas. I'm still, I'm not cancelled
5:59
There's this myth to go around that I go around going, oh, I want to get cancelled or I've been cancelled
6:04
I haven't. I never said that because I never have been. I've never been cancelled. I hope I never will
6:10
The game is to say what you want and not get cancelled. That's what I want to try and do for the rest of my life
6:17
Ignore it or, you know, meet it head on. But don't bow to it. Don't change anything you do
6:26
because some sort of authoritarian somewhere says that it's wrong. It's not wrong. It's not wrong. You don't like it. That's all that means. You don't like it. Don't watch it
6:38
Despite your somewhat provocative reputation at times, though, the last few things I've seen you do have been beautiful meditations on life and love and emotional
6:50
And this was emotional as well. Do you think your public reputation is a bit out of date sometimes
6:54
Yeah, because I think people believe the persona, you know, they see at the Golden Globes or stand-up
7:01
And that is a character, that's a persona, you know. I'm not that brash. I'm not that confident
7:08
I'm not, you know, it's an act to sell the joke. And it's a joke. Those things aren't real
7:13
I don't really believe those things, you know. I do like a live YouTube chat every Sunday
7:22
and someone asked, if you were to be like your stand-up persona for a day, how long do you think
7:31
it would be before you get punched in the face? And it would be immediate. It would be immediate
7:35
because you know you talk about things you wouldn go up in public and start talking about these provocative things because you setting up a joke I deal with taboo subjects because I want to take the audience to a place they haven been before If I just went out there and said what right that would be great
7:49
but it wouldn't be funny. You know what I mean? If I went out there and just lectured them about what's nice and what's right
7:54
and what a great day I've had, brilliant. But don't charge for it. You've got to go somewhere
7:59
You've got to play with their emotions and intellect, and you've got to do something
8:05
and that's what a joke is. It's not real. It's so those people can laugh at the wrong thing
8:17
You're saying the wrong thing so they can laugh at the wrong thing. They don't think it's right
8:21
Those people that go out there, they go, oh, I feel I'm a bad person because I laughed at some of this wrong
8:25
No, that's what it's for. It's a release. You know, we need that
8:31
We need to say the wrong thing, but we need to know it's the wrong thing
8:36
Do you think we're getting better at learning that? You said it's cyclical. Yeah, well, I think we got worse and now we're coming out of it
8:42
I think, you know, I think the next generation are going, yeah, they're jokes, don't worry about it
8:46
You know, but that's always going to happen. And also, I think we're sort of a slave to the media now
8:54
with everyone's got social media. And that was always the storm in the teacup
9:00
If you looked at social media for an hour, you'd think we were at war with everyone
9:06
And then you go into the real world and you have a walk and everyone's still normal
9:10
Most of those things don't reach the, you know, it's fake online rage
9:16
All those people, all those trolls, they don't do that in real life. You know, they're not that, you know, it's not real
9:23
It's fake. It's all fake. Turn your phone off. Go for a walk
9:26
that's incredibly good advice and yeah i should definitely take that um if someone watches alley
9:32
cats and they've never seen somehow they've never seen anything else you've done what do you think
9:37
they would get from you that maybe someone that comes to it with preconceptions wouldn't get
9:41
i think they'd um they'd go on a journey i think they'd think it was one thing and then end up
9:50
thinking it's something else. I think you get to know the cats
9:55
I think you get to realise what they're really like and that takes a while
10:01
But it's sort of like a movie, really. It's got a beginning, middle and end
10:09
And I think you get to know the cats more and you get to love the cats
10:13
and then you just want to watch those cats do anything they want
#news