The Ricky Gervais Show

The Ricky Gervais Show

The Ricky Gervais Show is the title of the world record-breaking series of podcasts that are presented by Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington. The Ricky Gervais Show is different to radio shows that were broadcast on Xfm (see here to find out why).

Contents:

World Record
History
Video Podcast
The Ricky Gervais Show (HBO)

World Record

The first series of The Ricky Gervais Show was placed in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the most downloaded Podcast of all time (see picture). While being interviewed about the podcast on Richard & Judy (January 2006) Stephen Merchant said, "There's something quite nice about being at the forefront of this new technology. The reason we can get into the Guinness Book of Records is because there's no one to compete with. It's like the guy who invented the wheel winning the award for the best wheel." In the same interview, Pilkington said he had quit his job to do the podcasts and in light of its phenomenal success bemoaned the fact that it was free and he wasn't making any money from it.

History

Podcast Series 1

Main Article: Podcast Series 1

Podcast Series 1 ran from December 2005 to February 2006 and marked the beginning of a new frontier in podcasting for Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and their former producer at Xfm, Karl Pilkington. Following their success and growing popularity on Xfm, Ricky, Steve and Karl decided to reunite to produce a series of twelve podcasts. Episode one of The Ricky Gervais Show was released on 5th December 2005 and could be downloaded through the website of the Guardian newspaper, Guardian Unlimited, and was hosted by Positive Internet.

Dates: 05 December 2005 - 20 February 2006
No. of Shows: 12
Features: Monkey News and Karl's Diary

Podcast Series 2

Main Article: Podcast Series 2

Podcast Series 2 saw Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington return right on the heels of the first series of podcasts. The only difference now is they are charging for them. Karl is no longer doing Monkey News, but they bring back a popular feature from their Xfm days.

Dates: 27 February 2006 - 04 April 2006
No. of Shows: 6
Features: Rockbusters and Karl's Diary

Podcast Series 3

Main Article: Podcast Series 3

Podcast Series 3 began with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant fresh from filming the second series of Extras. Meanwhile, Karl Pilkington had been following insects around and was in and out of the hospital with kidney stones.

Dates: 22 August 2006 - 26 September 2006
No. of Shows: 6
Features: Karl's Diary, Karl's Poems, and Monkey News

The Podfather Trilogy (Podcast Series 4)

Main Article: The Podfather Trilogy

Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington return from October to December 2006 for three podcasts that were originally free and were meant to be a special thank you for fans that had purchased the previous three series. However, in May 2008, they were re-released and are no longer available for free.

Dates: 31 October 2006 - 24 December 2006
No. of Shows: 3
Features: Karl's Diary

Podcast Series 5

Main Article: Podcast Series 5

Podcast Series 5 was released in September 2008, nearly 2 years after The Podfather Trilogy. Karl was reluctant to return, prompting Ricky to organize a poster campaign designed to annoy Karl to the point that he would give in. Eventually, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington reunited to record 4 more shows.

Dates: 15 September 2008
No. of Shows: 4
Features: None

The Ricky Gervais Guide To...

Main Article: The Ricky Gervais Guide To...

With the first audiobook being released officially on New Years' Eve 2008 and continuing throughout 2009, The Ricky Gervais Guide To... brought with it a new direction in the RSK way. Discarding the old informal chat style and instead featuring discussion about a specific academic subject each month, Ricky and Steve try to come to grips with Karl's understanding of the way the world works. Or should that be misunderstanding?

Dates: 30 December 2008-present
No. of Shows: 11
Features: None

Video Podcast

Main article: Video Podcast

Following the very successful second series of the audio podcasts Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington produced an irregular series of free short video podcasts, downloadable from iTunes.