The raw artistic genius

It's rare, rather never happened before that I've wanted to write about an artist after seeing their work. I don't know what made me write about Ricky, but I couldn't help but being awed by the immense creativity he has showcased. 

For those who have never heard of him before, Ricky Gervais is a complete package. He's been a writer, an actor, a director, and a comedian, extremely sarcastic, and of course, he's a bloody millionaire! I've been following his work for almost 2 years, without the realisation that I'd be surprised every time I discover a new piece of work that excites me, is indeed his art.

The Golden Globes Factor

One of the first acts I saw of him was as an anchor at golden globes, 2015 I guess? or something, where as usual he had a pint of beer, at all times while he was sarcastically calling out celebs for all the drama they're used to pulling off. I've always admired his shameless sense of pointing out what's wrong with the society these days. I mean, take this last golden globes awards moment for example:

Imagine the CEO of a trillion dollar company getting schooled for the wrongs that the company is doing, on a public forum, by a comedian. Now that's some status!

Unconventional Sketches

Most of you must have heard of the infamous TV series, "The Office". You're aware of the US remake probably, but what's interesting is that the original one was Ricky's piece of work, which was so well received that it got a remake made for US television, and man! Steve Carrell nailed it too!

Then there's a whole line of amazing shows. David Brent, Derek - a beautiful tale of a wonderful person at an old age home, Extras (I'm yet to watch this to be honest) and Afterlife (this deserves a special mention later). For those who've seen his standup, you'd probably identify him a cocky, haughty and arrogant a:hole. (That's one of the reasons I found his standup extremely relatable). But had you only known him as a comic, it'd have been hard to guess that he's the genius behind all the above sketches. The best part about them being, they're quite revealing and one doesn't even realise how comfortably you're made to realise the little nuances of the world that usually don't get into our head with anything less than a Ted talk.

Take Derek for example, a special outspoken, kind hearted soul that has a small world of his own and doesn't get concerned with how the rest of the world might feel about him. Or Tony from Afterlife, who's so truly harsh about life that he sounds extremely rude, but there's a whole history about why he acts like it.

Sarcastically subtle standup

If I had to sum it up in a single sentence - Sarcasm is to his standup, what jokes are to usual comics.

It's pretty cruel a standup for normal ones to be honest, but if you carefully observe, there's a lot of sense in what he makes fun of. Take for example the insurance companies looting money in the name of 'act of God'. Well, his argument is, if you believe in God, what isn't an act of God? And if something isn't an act of God, who did it? Subtle! Smooth! He might sound like a narcissist, but I couldn't agree with him more.

Afterlife

This one deserves its own place. I have followed this guy's work for years, but I haven't ever been more impressed by his art than after watching Afterlife.

I consider it as his best work till date, though I haven't watched all his creations yet. This comes out as Ricky's latest piece of work, as an actor, director, and again...the writer of the series.

It's beautiful. Has the capability of encompassing joy, grief, hope, loss, humour, sarcasm, love, hate and what not. An amazing rendition of how a middle aged man loses all shit for the world after his wife passes away. There's no surprise ending, no high energy moments, just a simple screenplay with beautifully crafted moments that will draw your attention and may be, stay in loop. I couldn't believe at first that a blunt person like him could create something of this sort. I was in for a shocker.

The series did so well that the streaming platform extended the offer to a third season within one week of releasing the second season, though I don't really like the idea of having a third season, fearing it might not match up to the previous two. Fingers crossed!

Anyway, I probably sound like a fanboy, but that's really not the case. There are acts in which I definitely disagree with his point of view for sure, but from a purely artistic point of view, he's nothing less than a genius, a rich genius, wait! rather..a rich arrogant, rude, funny, offensive genius!