Times when Ricky is wrong

One time that irked me is when Ricky is telling Karl some various "facts" that he claims to have verified for authenticity. Ricky tells Karl that sharks are immune to cancer. Not only is this just an urban legend that has been disproven, but when Karl asks Ricky how they've discovered this, Ricky replies that he doesn't know. This is exactly the sort of thing that Ricky constantly ridicules Karl for -- looking into a news story that may or may not be true, reading only the first part, and just ignoring the rest. You would think that if Ricky was going to provide Karl with this fact, he would have at least researched further into it.

Ricky always claims to be an expert on animals, but from listening to the show all he really seems to know are various pieces of trivia about certain animals, and even then he often gets the trivia wrong.

I agree that no one is perfect and everyone gets some things wrong, but Ricky seems to think that he is infallible when it comes to knowledge, and he thinks he's a lot smarter than he really is. The fact that he studied philosophy at college does not convince me that he's smart; I don't know what sort of grades he received, but it is possible to graduate college with mediocre grades, so the fact that someone attended college isn't impressive by itself.

Ricky slamming Karl for saying a lighthouse keeper would switch on the light at nighttime has totally bugged me ever since I heard it, to the point where I went and looked into it further to see if I was missing something, because it seemed like such an obvious mistake. Why did Ricky think the light would be on all day?
After Steve picked him up on it, he kept insisting he was right because the light has to be on in the fog. True enough, but it wouldn't have to be on every day, so the analogy could still stand.

I agree with whoever it was upthread who was talking about whether or nor your internal voice is in your own accent. Ricky gave Karl a huge serve for going around talking to himself in full sentences in his head, when most people can manage to think on a conceptual level, while I sat there listening feeling like an idiot, because I know *I* often "think in sentences". I also thought Karl was making a decent point with his "Do you control your brain or does it control you" discussion, although the way he phrased it did sound so ridiculous that it was hard to take seriously.


I think Ricky dismisses a lot of things Karl says, when really Karl just didn't articulate it very well, but the point he's trying to make may well be correct. But fair play, that's what makes the comedy, doesn't it?

I think the time I got angry at Ricky for just ripping it out of Karl for an idea that Karl has thought up was the "Glasses that create your own world based on your personality."

For anyone that doesn't know Ricky got Karl to list a bunch of inventions he thinks should be invented. Karl came up with a pair of glasses for one idea. These glasses when put onto your eyes would take what environment is around you and make the environment look completely different based on who you were. Karl used an example of a street-wise kid who likes graffiti. Normally a kid would see a normal Building. When the kid puts the glasses on the building is now covered in graffiti based on the kids tastes.

Ricky slammed this idea, calling Karl an idiot and that it wasn't possible. From the tape it doesn't sound like Ricky fully understands what Karl is talking about and that the glasses would remove or add objects instead of just "covering" then with new textures.

Anyway...this kind of technology is being developed as we speak. Infact some of the HTC android phones are able to do this at a VERY basic level. I can't remember what it is called but the technology developers want you to be able to hold your camera up at a wall, use your fingers to either leave a message or a note from yourself upon the wall without actually doing anything to the wall. The phone will remember to show this message next time the camera is pointed at the wall. This exactly what Karl was talking about!!!

Its also an insanely brilliant idea.

Stick to reality TV. As with most people in this thread, the fact that this is a show, done for the sake to sell and make money, everything he says does not necessarily reflect what he may think, or at least not to the same degree.

As for his 'unprovoked' attacks against religions, there is no such thing. People like it, he says it, call it a day. Don't like it? There's probably not something clicking in your head that should have as a child.

So basically, almost nothing of what was told was true.

Ricky is a very smart man, and compared to other programmes specifically regarding this or that subject, they don't prepare for the subjects that come up at XFM/The Ricky Gervais show at all. Ricky is indeed very knowledgeabe, and his few mistakes is a drop in the ocean. He genuinely surprised me, he knows a heck of a lot about most things.

There is another one where Karl talks about how a head can stay alive for a while after it has been decapitated. Ricky and Steven immediately shout him down about it.
Ok, Karl has obviously got some of the details wrong, for example, he seems to think that scientists have performed an experiment that included cutting off a living person's head, but the main thrust of Karl's point i.e. that a decapitated head can remain alive for a while (I think he says 20-30 seconds) is correct.
The brain survives as long as there is oxygen getting to it and there is a small amount of oxygen left in the blood of the decapitated head/brain.
There are several verified reports of the lips and eyes moving on heads decapitated by the Guillotine in the French Revolution and many other reports of victims finishing a prayer after decapitation. These post decapitation episodes are very short of course, as the oxygen soon runs out but yet again, Karl is definitely on to something here but is instantly derided for it.