There are lots of podcasts that are inspired by TV shows but you don’t often hear of a TV show that’s based on a podcast.
The audio recordings — created by Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington — are so popular (more than 300 million downloads) that they’ve been used to create an animated comedy series for HBO.
Season three of The Ricky Gervais Show debuts on April 20th. The 13 episodes will run through July 13th.
Here’s the press release from HBO:
“THE RICKY GERVAIS SHOW,” THE ANIMATED COMEDY SERIES BASED ON THE SMASH-HIT PODCAST, RETURNS FOR ITS THIRD SEASON APRIL 20, EXCLUSIVELY ON HBO
NEW YORK, Feb. 8, 2012 – THE RICKY GERVAIS SHOW, the animated comedy series based on the record-breaking podcast, returns to HBO for its 13-episode third season FRIDAY, APRIL 20 (9:00-9:30 p.m. ET/PT), with other new episodes debuting subsequent Fridays at the same time. The voices are recorded by Ricky Gervais, his longtime collaborator, Stephen Merchant, and Gervais’ colleague and friend, Karl Pilkington, whose offbeat musings inspire many of the storylines.
THE RICKY GERVAIS SHOW animates the podcast that first appeared on the Guardian website, subsequently earning a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most downloads. In March 2011, the podcast reportedly passed the 300 million download mark.
Topics covered in season three include: Karl ruminating on museum collections, his invention of the mug coaster, a movie pitch, and Karl, Stephen and Ricky shedding new light on charitable causes.
THE RICKY GERVAIS SHOW has inspired critical praise, with the New York Times saying the series is “proof that big laughs can come in small doses,” while the New York Post described the show as “crazy fun,” and the Houston Chronicle observed that the show’s “pointless conversations will keep you in stitches.”
THE RICKY GERVAIS SHOW is produced for HBO Entertainment by Media Rights Capital in association with Wildbrain Entertainment; executive producers, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Karl Pilkington, Glyn Hughes, Bob Higgins, Lisa Ullmann, Steve Patrick; supervising producers, Margaret M. Dean and Shannon Nettleton; producer, Pamela J. Arseneau; director, Dan Fraga.
What do you think? Have you been watching this HBO series? Have you listened to the podcast?
