As some of you know, I care for Ricky Gervais and his comedy (most of it) a great deal.  So do Rob & Sarah.  Ricky had only 2 tour locations: LA & NY.  Rob’s keen eye allowed us to book tickets last March, when we began planning our ‘Ricky Gervais’ day.   It was well executed yesterday.  Highlights

LEADING UP TO
-arrived at Ikegami’s (in Hollywood) approx 11:30am; hung out; ate from a delicious spread prepared by Sarah (thanx); rec’d my first Dive Review Book (thanx again Sarah), ‘Divers Speak Out’; prepared ourselves for the second season EXTRAS marathon
-Took a marathon break and went for a free slurpee run at 7/11 (since it was 7/11).  Came back and  finished the last few episodes of EXTRAS..we laughed alot…RIcky, Steve Merchant, ‘Maggie’, guest stars…ALL genuis!
-ran into AJ Tigner & his wife as we were walking to dinner (and then to the Kodak theatre).  I hadn’t seen them in 6 (?) years
-Chinese food for dinner…tried cream cheese wontons…whoa…who thought of that?
-2nd Mezzanine seating for the show (not bad)
-opening act so-so
-Ricky….

RICKY
-His entrance (WWF style), complete with cape, crown, HUGE lit letters saying ‘RICKY’, was hilarious! and very ‘Spinal Tap’ style…like an omage to the stonehenge bit (?)
-60% of his comedy was pure genuis and totally repeatable.  The other 40% left me cringing inside…and pondering a 1,000 ‘by product’ thoughts.  The hilarious themes: his charity work, autisism, obescity is not a disease, morals of children’s stories (humpty Dumpty, the industrious mouse and the lazy mouse, etc), the history channel/the discovery channel, sharks and Nazi’s, animals…
-His subtle hand motions, eye movements, tone of voice…SO much genuis. 
-His ‘dialogue’ with other characters …hilarious (ex. Niche & Hitler!)

POST SHOW HIGHLIGHTS
-As we were hanging out in the lobby we noticed the stairs down to the first floor was roped off.  As we looked down at what appeared to be a crowd chatting and mingling outside a VIP room, Rob began recognizing the people.  It was like watching animals at the zoo:  matthew perry, jason bateman (!), Harry shearer (!), Brett & Jermaine from flight of the conchords, Kathy Griffin… weird and cool.  No cameras, no crowds, just them off in the distance laughing, talking, pushing each other into the bushes. 

As we debriefed the night on our walk home and back at the Ikegami’s place, we noted the good and the bad.  It was a GREAT day…it’s cool when a plan comes together!

If you don’t know who Ricky Gervai is…shame on you. 
He’s the creator of the British show called ‘the Office’, after which the U.S. version was fashioned.  He went on to create another series called EXTRAS.  Reserved only for true comedy afficianados.