Times when Ricky is wrong - The Ricky Gervais Show (2010) Discussion

[–] JR541 14 years ago

The problem is that Karl says so many strange and bewildering things that the reflex action is to react as Ricky does even if Karl happens to be right in some way.

He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?

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[–] LittleSilverBoxes 14 years ago

You can buy machines that play out white noise to help babies sleep so yeah that one is true.

"It's a Fez. I wear a Fez now. Fez's are cool"

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[–] Lord-Z 14 years ago

I think Ricky has claimed that apes doesn't have opposable thumbs.

www.madmanoz.blogspot.com

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[–] intrepidjournalist 14 years ago

He has, and I looked it up, and it isn't true. All apes have opposable thumbs.

"Stop listening to music made by poofs. Put some Elton John on!"

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] jasir_arafat 13 years ago

he also said that chimps arent monkeys but apes, which of course is wrong, because all apes are monkeys, but not all monkeys are apes.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] iresheen 11 years ago

"he also said that chimps arent monkeys but apes, which of course is wrong, because all apes are monkeys, but not all monkeys are apes."

It's like Karl Pilkington himself posted that.

You might want to look up the difference between "Monkey" and "Primate".

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[–] iteration2 14 years ago

Yeah, I noticed that one and it really bothered me. That's the sort've common knowledge that I'd expect Ricky to know, and I felt sort've sad for Karl that neither he nor Steve called Ricky out on it.

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[–] NoodleLizard 14 years ago

As much as I admire a lot of Ricky's work (well, his work with Steve and/or Karl anyway), he's nowhere near as smart as he seems to think he is. So many times on the radio show or podcasts he completely misunderstands the point Karl is trying to make, whether bizarre or actually sensible, and has quite often proven that he's guilty of the same thing he accuses Karl of: not quite knowing what he's talking about. The difference between him and Karl is that while Karl questions everything and most of his crazy claims are theories anyway, Ricky is convinced that he's always right - even though he isn't.

These bastards!

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[–] Lord-Z 14 years ago

Well, Ricky has, directly, referred to himself and Stephen as "pseudo-intellectuals", in relation to the show.

www.madmanoz.blogspot.com

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[–] walker31-1 14 years ago

I always had an issue when Karl was talking about who controls what him or his brain. Ricky had a major issue with this saying he is his brain. But im sure Karl was trying to describe the conscious and unconscious minds. The things he does with his knowledge verses things that he doesnt seem to directly control.

As with KArl i cannot describe it well, and thats why Ricky pounced as Karl couldnt explain what he meant he was made fun of, but in reality he wasnt being stupid.

http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/consciousuncon. htm

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[–] NoodleLizard 14 years ago

Yes, that one especially irked me. It was quite obvious what Karl was trying to say (even if he didn't articulate his thoughts very well) and many famous philosophers have discussed the very same thing.

And I'm sure Ricky and Steve didn't mind when the famous line "Does the body control the mind, or does the mind control the body, I don't know" appeared in that Smiths song

These bastards!

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[–] walker31-1 14 years ago

I also liked how his kid inside and old person idea, with a little tweaking is similar to Benjamin Button.

Its not identical, but its a similar concept, that he blurted out with out thinking his words through.

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[–] MrHelpmann 14 years ago

Ricky studied philosophy so I'm sure he's fully aware of what Karl is trying to describe. Ricky is simply trying to get Karl to elaborate on ideas that he's clearly struggling with for comic effect.

But there are certainly moments when Karl is correct and Ricky is wrong... I remember Karl having some idea about putting a huge mirror on the moon so the earth would be reflected in it and Ricky falsely claiming that it wouldn't always be facing the earth.

Only the closed mind is certain.

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[–] NoodleLizard 14 years ago

I know Ricky studied philosophy, but I have to say that came as a surprise since his knowledge of the subject seems fairly limited for someone who studied it at degree level. His knowledge of animals/zoology/biology appears to be far greater.

And yes, I remember cringing a bit at that moon one.

These bastards!

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[–] intrepidjournalist 14 years ago

I remember Karl having some idea about putting a huge mirror on the moon so the earth would be reflected in it and Ricky falsely claiming that it wouldn't always be facing the earth.

I yelled at the TV during that bit too. I was like "Hello? Pink Floyd? Dark Side of the Moon?!"

"Processing the elderly into snack crackers has always been the third rail of American politics."

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[–] kingjamie01-1 14 years ago

The idea that Ricky is intentionally pretending not to understand what Karl is trying to say for the sake of comedy seems lost on most of you. Also, i don't know what the 2 posters above are on about saying Ricky said at some point that apes don't have opposable thumbs, he actually said the opposite in an episode during the first season. It's common knowledge that apes have opposable thumbs, Ricky is an intelligent guy, he's not gonna say something so unbelievably dumb as that.

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[–] Lord-Z 14 years ago

I found the bit. It is during the Chimp Doctor monkey-news. He very specifically says that chimps don't have opposable thumbs.

www.madmanoz.blogspot.com

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[–] intrepidjournalist 14 years ago

You're right. He specifically cited the concept of the "precision grip" which apes are capable of.

"Processing the elderly into snack crackers has always been the third rail of American politics."

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[–] iteration2 14 years ago

There is no dark side of the moon, really... As a matter of fact, it's all dark.

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[–] Caralho_Voador 13 years ago

I yelled at the TV during that bit too. I was like "Hello? Pink Floyd? Dark Side of the Moon?!"

Somebody mentioned this as being incorrect, but it's just a matter of terms. 'Dark side' is interchangeable with 'far side'. There's a difference between the side of the Moon that never faces the Earth and the hemisphere of the Moon that is not lit by the Sun at any given time. The hemisphere of the Moon that is not lit by the Sun is always changing, otherwise there would be no Moon phases. The 'far side' of the Moon is always the same hemisphere that never faces the Earth. The phrase 'dark side of the moon' isn't really supposed to mean 'the hemisphere of the Moon that is not lit by the Sun'.

To sum up, Ricky was wrong and the quoted poster was indeed correct.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] beckyjcolley 14 years ago

I think you've got it exactly right there. Karl makes valid points but because he isn't articulate in the way way as Ricky or Stephen they immediately assume what he's saying is completely wrong, simply because they don't understand him. Poor Karl :-)

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] turok101 13 years ago

"Didn't you understand what Ricky was explaining to Karl towards the end of that scene? And you can't say you weren't a little confused after hearing the question "Does the brain control you or do you control the brain?" the fact that Karl tried to back that up with a story about him remembering an onion.
Ricky was definitely right in that scene. "

I'm really glad you brought this topic up again, though I disagree with you and Ricky. As I understand it, there is a conversation between consciousness and one's awareness. A clear cut example is when at certain times people lack their learned inhibitions and talk to themselves.

A cool Yaqui Indian used to called it the "internal dialog." And in certain practices we train ourselves to silence the internal dialog.

Imho, silencing internal dialog is what meditation is all about.

I understand that Rick denies Carl for the sake of the show, it's just that one kinda got to me too.

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[–] psykotik_rexx 11 years ago

I have to disagree because Karl has stated often that he feels like there are other intelligences in his body parts that know things he does not. He thinks his teeth are sentient because they hurt him just before something happens that will make him sad or angry. He thinks his body has knowledge of physical acts, like plumbing, that his brain may or may not share and the brain may choose to ignore and reject the body's ability to repair plumbing because the brain finds it too boring. Karl has a very strange, in my opinion, way of seeing things and makes odd connections that are not only human viewpoints, but not cause and effect or reasonable. I just watched the episode where Karl imagined Rosa Parks as a drunk, criminal, rude person who was lazy and would not get up and he would not have intervened if he was on that bus that day, but he immediately dropped everything to break up a fight between a hornet and a cricket. His world is probably 1000% better than mine, but he is very strange. My wife still thinks he is a comic genius doing a character, but I know a person who is a bit like this and I cannot imagine how a person could be like this and pull it off so well without being real. Crazy, but real.

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[–] !!!deleted!!! (20142999) 14 years ago

Karl was talking about glasses that change your surroundings. That idea is well and truly on it's way. Smartphones do something very similar already. Changing the language of text through the camera etc. But Ricky dismissed it as a preposterous idea that will never come close to happening.

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[–] imapunk2222 14 years ago

In the monkey news about the monkey being sent to space Karl has no idea but he is talking about operant conditioning (using reward/punishment to reinforce a voluntary behavior) to teach the monkey to fly the space craft. Ricky claims that Karl is thinking of Pavlovian response (classical conditioning) seeming to dismiss B.F. Skinner. When Karl says "the next one up" he is actually correct in an inarticulate way.

I love this thread, but must say I think Ricky is incredibly intelligent. I think his confidence even when he is wrong is needed to make the podcast work.

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[–] NeverFazed 14 years ago

They all laughed at Karl when he mentioned the escaped dolphins with guns attached to them but it was a real story:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/sep/25/usa.theobserver
Can't remember which episode it was in but it was a very bizarre story.

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[–] intrepidjournalist 14 years ago

The bit about the shadow that pushed people off bikes is a real story too. It may not be TRUE, but Karl didn't dream it up. It's a local legend in a town in Mexico, and the bike-pushing was a specific incident where a teen claims he was attacked by a shadow while biking home from a hunting. He even fired a shotgun at it.

"Processing the elderly into snack crackers has always been the third rail of American politics."

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[–] RTDEG5 14 years ago

Both Ricky and Stephen are pretty intelligent guys, but anyone's bound to get some details wrong during ridiculous conversations like these. Off the top of my head, I remember in one of the episodes, Stephen described Ben Franklin as an American politician during the 1800s.

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[–] NMLeopold 13 years ago

Alright, so he got the century wrong, so what? I'm sure in the context it was more relevant to describe Franklin as a politician rather than as an author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. (borrowed from Wikipedia)

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[–] RTDEG5 13 years ago

The point is, he was wrong. This is a thread called "Times when Ricky is wrong", isn't it? Not "Times when Ricky is wrong and it is completely unjustifiable."

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] RTDEG5 13 years ago

I think we can safely disprove the possibility of housing two members of every one of the world's animal species in a boat that we have the measurements for.

That said, I agree, Ricky did come across as a little arrogant at that point. That's an issue that can't be argued because people either believe it or they don't. I was a little disappointed he didn't pick apart the actual scientific logic in Karl's ideas, like the usefulness of similar species and the evolutionary inconsistencies in his ideas (if I recall, Karl was suggesting letting mammoths drown because we already have elephants). Going after him for believing in the story of Noah is too easy of an argument, and it wasn't even the point Karl was trying (poorly) to make. Ricky should have just granted him the premise and picked apart the real meat of the idea.

Then again, there wasn't much meat to pick at, I suppose.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] quinntheeskimo 13 years ago

Are you serious? Can you disprove the existence of Santa Claus? I really hope you're not a real doctor.

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