Blog Minx

Tonight I went to see Ricky Gervais live (not dead) at Madison Square. I was so excited. I’m a huge fan of the painfully funny Office, UK version, and Extras, and I’d seen excerpts of his stand-up shows on YouTube and they were brilliant.

Anyway, the show was due to start at 8pm, but at 8pm most people were still out in the lobby buying their beers and popcorn and what-not, or not even there yet because it was a rainy Saturday night and traffic was crap. Everybody was casual about it, because everybody expected a warm-up comedian or two before Ricky hit the stage.

Wrong. At 8pm sharp the theater darkened to black and David Bowie wandered across the stage. Yes, David Bowie. And then he started to sing! The few people who were seated started clapping and cheering like mad. Then David exited and Ricky Gervais came on and started being funny. Trouble was, the place was pitch dark and 70% of the audience were still arriving. Torches were waved around, phones rang, people whispered and rustled, and every time someone needed their seat the entire row had to stand to let them through. This all took about 20 minutes plus.

Still, Ricky was indeed a laugh. Only he could make jokes about Pol Pot, Hitler, incest and pedophilia and get away with it. But with no warm-up comedian the entire thing was over in an hour, and everyone had paid $75+ for their seat. Some people had missed almost half the show. The most irate person was perhaps the Scotsman who stood at the top of the theater and yelled: “Ricky, ya far barrstard, yer shite!”

One of Ricky’s anecdotes involved living in a tiny studio apartment before he made it big. It was so small that the bed was in the kitchen, and the toilet was two floors down in the communal bathroom. One night Ricky couldn’t be bothered going all that way so he peed in the sink. His girlfriend called out sleepily: “At least take the dishes out before you pee!” (They’re still together, apparently!)

Guess he can afford his own bathroom now.

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