'The Ricky Gervais Show' is hilarious

PASADENA, Calif. — It's called "The Ricky Gervais Show," but that's because Gervais is more famous than his partner, Stephen Merchant. And far more famous than Karl Pilkington.

"But it is 'The Karl Pilkington Show.' Make no mistake about that," Gervais said.

"The Ricky Gervais Show," which premieres Friday at 10 p.m. on HBO, is odd. And hilarious.

It's an animated version of Gervais' incredibly popular podcast, which is closing in on 200 million downloads. Basically, it's Gervais and Merchant sitting down and chatting with Pilkington, who is decidedly weird. And animated versions of some of the things they talk about.

"Some of the things that Karl has come up with are incredible," Gervais said. "I mean, he thought Anne Frank was just avoiding paying rent.

"We have to explain these things to him like he's starting from scratch."

And Merchant quickly agreed.

"His serious understanding of evolution is, 'Yeah, I know evolution. It's germ, fish, mermaid, man.' " Merchant said.

"He actually thought mermaid was part of our human evolution," Gervais said.

Pilkington is clearly the butt of the jokes. But they're his own jokes. He just don't know that they're funny.

"He's deadly serious," Gervais said. "He's trying his best there. … He doesn't know that's part of the comedy at all. He's trying his best to prove me wrong usually."

Gervais and Merchant insist they're not putting anybody on. That the podcasts-turned-TV shows are totally unscripted.

"It's a half an hour … of just us talking," Gervais said. "So there's nothing quite like it, I think. It's real-imation. Yeah, I made that up."

And Pilkington is not acting.

"These are real conversations that we've had with him," Merchant said.

"This isn't like a job. It is like three mates doing it," Gervais said. "We have conversations like this all the time.

"People say, 'Is Karl really like that?' And I say, 'Well, I mean, if it's an act, he keeps it up 24/7.' "

Gervais and Merchant are both quite mean to Pilkington. Gervais says things like, "You are brain dead!" and "You are an idiot!" But they insist Pilkington isn't offended.

"He doesn't fully understand what we are talking about," Gervais said.

"He's not paying attention," Merchant said.

Gervais said, "He's thinking, 'Could a monkey ever be, I don't know …

"… prime minister?" Merchant interjected.

Pilkington really is fascinated by monkeys. Every episode includes a "Monkey News" segment.

As mean as they are, it's also clear that Gervais and Merchant have affection for Pilkington.

"I love Karl. I can't get enough of Karl," Gervais said. "I genuinely believe he is a comedy genius, whether he knows it or not.

"So he's a cross between a friend and a pet and a golden goose."