I thought I was alone in thinking the performance by Ricky Gervais was nothing short of embarassing. And if he cannot fill in for a few minutes waiting for the next act then he is hardly the 'comedy genius' people make him out to be is he ?!

Just goes to show that like most comedians these days, when the ability to swear is taken away from them they're a dead duck.

just shows that Ricky Gervais isnt the massive comedy talent hes often portrayed to be, it was one of the most embarrassing moments ive ever seen on TV. They should of got Peter Kay, he wouldnt of panicked like Gervais did when he was suddenly told he must fill 3 mins of air time. i do like you Ricky, but that was dreadful.

To be fair Gervais is a bit of a one trick pony and certainly an aquired taste.

I agree Peter Kay is a genuine comedy genius. Gervais is funny but his comedy is limited to a couple of things; His 'oafish tub of lard' look and THAT dance.

Agree, I thought he was brutal

Clearly, Ricky Gervais is incapable of thinking on his feet in the way that comedians such as Jack Dee or David Walliams are. However, it doesn't detract from the fact that he is a supremely gifted writer. Actors such as Mackenzie Crook, Lucy Davis and Ashley Jensen owe their current strong careers to the break that he gave them, as well as to their own talent.

he totally bombed, i'm no square (ref permalink) but id never heard pug nose whatever and i was like what on earth??? normally love his stuff, thought comic relief sketch was brilliant, but this... oh dear, my partner and i were cringing. Overall i did feel sorry for him and i'd rather blame it on Elton who was probably having a fit about something and caused the delay rather than the technical problem it was labelled :-) should've has Bill Bailey, that's comic genius xx

I thought Gervais's stand up performances in Animals & Politics was great, however more recently he still makes far too many references to the office (particularly that stupid dance, which is no longer funny!!!) therefore lacks originality. His performance in the Diana concert was shockingly poor and possibly career damaging! He should stick to what he's good at, comedy writing/acting.

If anyone has seen the recent episode of The Simpsons famously wrtiiten by Gervais, they will already know just what a fraud he is.
He's never been funny, why can't people see that? We are usually good at spotting one-trick ponies in Britain, unless of course, they are British, then we can't help pretending they are 'Geniuses' and slapping a union-jack on them. (A bit like most of 'our' sportsmen)
Bring back Harry Enfield, Baddiel & Skinner, The Mary Whitehouse Experience, The Fast Show... There's more than enough great comedy/comedians in recent British time, Gervais won't be remembered as one of them though (nor will Peter Kay for that matter)

Are you kidding? Was his gag that Prince Philip plays Billy Bragg songs - and Bob Marley ("with the accent") - too subtle for you? He's good when he's on form.

What on earth was Ricky Gervais talking about on Sunday. How embarrasing. He was a total shambles.He needs to go back in The Office and stay there.

Even most of us Americans would admit that Brit humor is usually better than ours, but I have watched Gervais in the office and still can't understand how this guy got the job (or any entertainment job whatsoever).

RG.. BFL!

i was at the concert. gervais did well enough, sure there were people such as Peter Kay who couldve done better, but Gervais' real talent is in writing. the entire concert had long breaks between acts, the planning was terrible for it; so i forgive Gervais for not having 10 minutes of extra gags lined up. i laughed a few times, give him a break, it wasnt that bad, and withan audience of 500M, and you KEEP getting told "fill 2 more minutes" theres not TOO much you can do.

Poor Ricky. What goes up must come down.....

sorry, have you lot got no sense of humour at all? I would like to see any one of you get up on stage and improvise for a full 10 minutes. I personally thought it was funny, and so apparantly, did the audience. I do not believe that Peter Kay is all that funny. He just struts around the stage shouting in his 'hilarious' accent

Did someone here mention the name Baddiel in a sentence that had the word comedy in it?
'ave a wurd wiv yerself.
Baddiel is a middle class fake, a sponger soaking up the talent he, regrettebly gains access to! Is his dad a BBC controller or something? It makes ya wonder.

I thought Ricky did brilliantly. He is funny, witty and has a great way about him. That night would have been stressful for ANY performer (half a billion people watching!) True to form, he did make the audience laugh and most of us watching him at home. Give him a break. The British love to see the people at the top come crumbling down...well, it won't be happening for Gervais. He is a comic genius - end of.

Gervais is the Emporers New Clothes of comedy in my opinion.
Totally over-rated..

However I certainly WON'T miss smoking in comedy clubs.
I have had my enjoyment of comedy spoilt by not being able to breathe or see through a fog of poison smoke.

Up the Creek comedy club in Croydon used to get so bad that I had to stop going there. Maybe I wasnt alone as it closed down a while back...

He's rubbish. Always has been.

Ricky Gervaise just cocked up, surely it must have occured to him that a live programme might go over or under time? Or maybe he didn't want to do a free gig? I woudn't pay to see him, having seen how little effort he put into the Diana concert.

I can't believe the comments I've been reading. Gervais is a comedy genius. Was the humour too subtle for you? Humour doesn’t have to make your sides split, I was laughing and probably so were millions of others. It’s a really British trait to knock successful people as if you only get there by being a fraud. Lighten up and go back to your daily mails!!!

I am sure this blog and a similar article recently posted in the Guardian are part of some socio-psychological experiment or bet to see how quickly a heard mentality can generated. Seems to be working.

Ricky relied purely on his stage presence and the knowledge that his comedy is enjoyed. I genuinely believe he failed to plan for the event and if that is the case it's unforgiveable. No matter what the profession, people paying money, in this instance for being entertained (for charity or not) should expect a decent return. This time they were let down badly.

Actually, smoking increases the risk of ALL cancers, including pancreatic cancer. By the way, I always thought that Ricky Gervais was successful because of the talent that supported him in the office!

Gervais has made me laugh loads of times - he's great!