The Official "Derek" Thread

[nicholls]

It's not wrong to hope for the best. I just have none.

The way this 'mong' thing went down gave me no confidence.

[What A Hassle]

Sounds like I'm trying to stick up for this like I think it's going to be brilliant or something, I don't, I just liked that old clip and am hoping that he manages to turn it into a good show. Seems a bit daft to be so against something that hasn't even been made yet.

Its true, judging something before you see it is always annoying, presumptuous, stupid, etc. Unless of course you're given information about the program and a little taster clip, then it's fair to say whether you think it will be a good thing or not.

Just like you're saying you don't necessarily think it will be brilliant, I don't think I'm saying it will necessarily be shit. I'm saying that its not worth upsetting anybody over, comedy is always down to taste and I have no doubt a lot of people would like 'Derek' and there's a chance some of those people will like it for the right reason. At the same time it could feel like victimisation and it's not the same as making a joke about someone who has done something; it's going to make people think the joke is about who they are or someone they know or just a type of person who you'd have empathy for.

South Park does this kind of thing well; its absurd, ridiculous and always over exaggerated and in that world they manage to find the humour in things a lot of people find risqué.

I still have faith in Ricky, he really does seem like a legitimately nice guy who wouldn't want to deliberately hurt anyone... But he's not perfect, he can get things wrong. Some of his fans need to realise this (I'm not saying this is you ND, just to be clear).

It's like having a mate who is preparing to do something you think will be a bad move for them, I just don't want him to do anything he'd regret.

[CantSayBien]

Tenner says Derek turns out to be Ricky's real life When The Whistle Blows.

lol ... If anything will be, it's this! Not impressed at all by the current clips...

[DasLankyGogglEye]

This is just straddling SUCH a fine line - whatever Ricky says, Derek obviously has some sort of mental retardation. After mong-gate it's pretty unbelievable that Ricky would still be trying to develop this character. Although with Smerch's mediating hand keeping him in line it COULD, potentially, be something beautiful. Especially if the setting doesn't make Derek look like an imbecile, but actually makes him look like more of a decent and upstanding person than so-called 'normal' people. In that sense it could be something really special. But knowing Ricky's love of having a bastard or incompetent lead character a la The Office and Extras, I really doubt it.

[liammyles]

i'd much prefer to see derek as he originally was.

ricky did him as a character trying to break into stand up comedy and he did gigs at edinburgh as him.

derek the stand up would be quite good. as a sitcom it would be awful and offensive for sure

[Tomkerr93]

I know what you mean when you say that Derek is Ricky's 'When the Whistle Blows', but I disagree. It's true in the sense that it could ruin any of his future projects, but WTWB was something that became extremely popular much to the distaste of Andy. Derek is more likely to be hated, while being something Ricky WANTS to do.

Or maybe I'm looking too far into it.

[Scotland Rocks!]

Although with Smerch's mediating hand keeping him in line it COULD, potentially, be something beautiful.

That's another problem - where is Smerch during all this development of Derek? Doing his stand-up, of course. Now, some may say, "Yeah, but that doesn't take up ALL his time - I'm sure he's got a hand in it," I wouldn't be so sure. He definitely can't spend full-time hours co-writing and co-producing like he did the other shows. In fact, do we even know for sure if Steve's involved at all? If not, or if he is (as I suspect) only marginally involved, this thing's REALLY gonna suck. Expect NO pathos.

[ike]

Have we actually been given more information or footage about this show since this thread started? Or are we all still discussing something we still no practically nothing about?

[chinese homeless]

Have we actually been given more information or footage about this show since this thread started? Or are we all still discussing something we still no practically nothing about?

Don't think that ever stopped anyone on the internet before.

[ike]

I thought as much. Just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something relevant over these last 7 pages.

[Horse voices]

hey guys

I know this is not the most positive first post, but I saw that this doesn't seem to have been posted yet

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... NETTXT9038

I hope that Ricky reads it and perhaps even comes to his senses, since someone as brilliant as Stewart Lee is not quite as easy to dismiss as your regular reactionary tabloid pundit. I don't really wanna join in the general Gervais bashing that seems to have taken over these boards, but I wish Ricky's loved ones would surprise him when he comes home one night with a big "Intervention" banner and prepared speeches by each of them about please leaving down syndrome and celebrity mates out of his comedy from now on.

[singhman123]

Looking forward to Anti_Nora's post about how Stuart Lee is some famewhore comedian who's just jealous and looking for a bit of attention.

[E=MC Fish]

I just posted that article in the Twitter thread (didn't see that it was up here already).

But yeah, I can't imagine that discussion of this article will go on for very long before a lot of people on this board start calling others mongs. Looking forward to it.

[EinHistory]

That article links to PilkipediaTV's Derek video, so expect a barrage of angry comments...

[ScottHanson]

Yum yum, more hits.