Animals

Animals was the debut solo stand-up comedy show from Ricky Gervais, released on VHS and DVD on 17th November 2003. Gervais performed the show for a two week residency at London's Bloomsbury Theatre, one night of which was filmed and released on DVD. Gervais promoted it extensively in the media, prompting negative comments about the show from Newsnight Review and Ian Hislop, who claimed that the "lines weren't clever enough". Despite said criticism the DVD "sold well" according to Gervais, speaking on his Xfm show.

Unsurprisingly, given its title, the show centered on the topic of animals and nature, featuring skits involving the elephant and the daddy long legs. A highlight of the set involves known Atheist Gervais reading from the Bible and dissecting its' perceived truths. A short film played at the start of the set, as was the case on Politics. The entrance music was the song Animal Nitrate by British fops Suede, who Gervais assisted in their pre-record contract days. The show was a resounding success, and ended with Gervais calling the aforementioned Hislop a "little ugly pug-faced cunt".

From Xfm

Some of the material from "Animals" was originally heard during Xfm shows. This was even pointed out by Steve on 22 November 2003 when he said "You probably heard most the stand-up observations on this show."

• 15 December 2001 - The Falkland War (also used in Meet Ricky Gervais)
• 15 December 2001 - Humpty Dumpty
• 12 January 2002 - Man weighing 70 stone