Ricky Gervais Meets... Larry David (2006) (TV)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Niall Downing

Writer:

Ricky Gervais (writer)

Release Date:

5 January 2006 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Ricky Gervais has had one of the most successful and highest selling BBC comedies ever with The Office...

Plot Keywords:

Ellipsis In Title | Punctuation In Title | Character Name In Title

Cast

Larry David	...	Himself
Ricky Gervais	...	Himself
Andrew Sachs	...	Himself - Narrator (voice)

Runtime:

55 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Objective Productions

Movie Connections:

References "Extras" (2005)

A very enjoyable chat between two funny men

Ricky Gervais has had one of the most successful and highest selling BBC comedies ever with The Office and with Extras was able to engage Hollywood stars not normally found on television. However he has turned down Hollywood roles and million dollar endorsements so how does he benefit from his success? He meets his idol – Seinfeld writer Larry David.

A real coup for both Channel 4 and Ricky Gervais in getting Larry David to do an interview but not only do one, but do one that is as fun as watching his show. Aside from the clips (which are sparingly and well used) this show consists of Gervais and David on either end of a small couch, chatting about ideas, influences, laughter, famous lives, alternative jobs and just shoot the breeze. Both men are natural from start to finish and it makes for a great "interview", although I personally would struggle to use that work to describe this simply because it is much more like two guys having a chat. The film occasionally allows some praise to come Gervais' way but David is a much more interesting subject and his conversation helped me see why I loved Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, because he just has that flow and sense of humour that I love. He came over as a really nice guy if you got on with him and helped me understand why he generally shuns the interviews, chat shows and easy options.

The use of clips is generally good. I think they had maybe 10 Curb ones and only three ones from Seinfeld. All of them were in context of the conversation and were certainly not filler – in fact I think if the film had had 90 minutes to fill it could easily have done that because there appeared to be not a single slack moment here. I have only started watching Curb recently and I found this interview being just another reason why I'm watching it. Overall a wonderfully enjoyable chat between two funny men; if you hate Seinfeld and Curb then you should avoid this because I don't think you'll like it at all – try switching to another channel, an episode of Joey should be starting soon.