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Euronews
05-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Twenty years of twaddle: Why an old Ricky Gervais podcast is still topping charts
Twenty years ago, three blokes got together to launch a nonsense podcast about man moths and little monkey fellas going into space. People loved it - so much that it set a Guinness World Record for the most downloaded podcast at the time, marking the advent of what would become one of the most popular mediums of the 21st century. Called 'The Ricky Gervais Show', it featured British comedians and co-writers of The Office Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant encouraging the hilariously inane ramblings of former radio producer Karl Pilkington. The trio first met in 2001 while hosting a weekly show on the alternative UK radio station XFM, where Gervais quickly realised that Pilkington was an untapped comedy genius. 'I liked him instantly, as he wasn't impressed by who I was,' Gervais told the Independent. 'I think the first words I said to him were, "Why have you got a round head?" and he replied, "What shape's a head meant to be?" I laughed straight away, as he didn't go, "How insulting!" 'As humans, we use humour to see if someone's on our wavelength and I felt Karl was the funniest man I'd ever met.' Ricky, Steve and Karl - their collaborative content commonly referred to online by their initials 'RSK' - gained a cult following for their off the cuff and unorthodox broadcasting that included segments like 'Freak of the Week' and 'Monkey News', where Pilkington would share spurious stories he'd read on the internet about chimps performing human endeavours. This content was later offered as a podcast series by Guardian Unlimited, all five series totalling 300 million downloads by 2011 and made into a popular Hanna-Barbera style animated show. A lot of the content has, admittedly, not aged well, with outdated comments on race, weight and disabilities, yet a huge global audience of devoted fans are still listening to it -some of whom weren't even born when the shows first aired. The old episodes are even being rereleased weekly on Apple, currently sitting at number 1 in its UK comedy podcast chart. Meanwhile, over on YouTube, you'll find countless uploads of both the old XFM shows and clips from the podcast, some with millions of views. Perhaps funniest is the subreddit dedicated to Ricky Gervais, where the majority of its nearly 180,000 members ignore (and actively dislike) the comedian's newer works, only commenting in quotes from his content with Merchant and Pilkington. At a time when it feels like everyone and their dog has a podcast, it may come as a surprise that one of the earliest ones is still drawing in so many listeners. One of the main reasons is, of course, nostalgia. For those that grew up listening to it, there's an instant cosiness to be found in its familiarity, noughties reference points, and the leisurely and unpolished ambience of three guys simply chatting about silly things. 'It's just parasocial comfort, like I'm hanging out with a bunch of old mates at the pub,' says Tom, a 37-year-old fan from the UK. 'It's one of those things that sort of grounds me when I'm travelling as well and I'll just give their unique brand of nonsense a blast and all is well with the world.' Brett, a 36-year-old fellow fan, has been listening to the shows on repeat since 2009 and also finds them to be a constant source of solace. 'Though they may not be the most politically correct or kosher thing through the lens of today, they harken back to an earlier time, both socially and personally for me. I was young and had the whole world ahead of me. The Internet was still in its young days, not everyone was 100% connected with their noses buried in their phones at all times; we weren't all jaded from the constant deluge of celebrity gossip, politics and various world-problems. It's my comfort place and, at this point, probably will be for the rest of my life.' Turns out… Lots of little monkey fellas From every fandom develops a microcosm, and within RSK's it is one filled with pure absurdity: Derek Acorah, armed dolphins, Tic Tacs tinging their way up the tube, near-death experiences involving Mr. Freeze pops and chimp doctors - hours of recorded conversations creating an endless pool of surreal reference points that fans never tire of quoting to one another. So dedicated are the community that has formed around these old shows that in 2021, Steven O'Halloran, the Managing Director of Timeryder Productions, decided to set up an annual RSK convention in Manchester and London. 'We are the only RSK related event on the planet that celebrates all things Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington... including all of their bodies of work as a collective, as well as individuals,' O'Halloran tells Euronews Culture. Featuring quizzes, Q&As, merch and a whole host of bizarrely niche activities relating to the podcast and XFM shows' content, between 200 and 500 fans have attended previous events, with a major highlight being the 'Kick Your Own Height' competition - something Pilkington once spoke about doing as a child. It's an event that O'Halloran hopes will continue to grow, which seems likely given the continued popularity of the old podcasts and many younger people discovering them via YouTube, social media - and maybe their millennial parents. 'The reason people love these shows and keep returning is the fact that most of what Ricky, Steve & Karl have produced over the years is absolutely genius... and it's a struggle nowadays to find anything similar or as good,' O'Halloran explains. 'I've personally watched and listened to probably 99% of everything the trio have ever produced or starred in over the past 25 years, and yet... I still find myself drawn back to wanting to listen and watch them all over again. It's just a massive shame that we probably won't ever get to see the famous trio work together on a project ever again. Forget about the Oasis reunion... we all want a RSK reunion please!'
Washington Post
31-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Guitars, masks and defiance: Kenya's rock and metal scene catches fire
NAIROBI — The guitar thrummed, the drumsticks smashed into a quivering cymbal, and the lead vocalist for Rash howled into the mic, electrifying the night air. After years in the wilderness, Kenya's tiny rock and metal scene is exploding — and bands like Irony Destroyed, Last Year's Tragedy and Rash are clawing their way up the charts. Very few Africans have traditionally listened to rock music, said Nick Wathi, one of Kenya's first rock producers. Its reputation for rebelliousness and subversion creates suspicion in a society that values religion and respect for elders, Wathi said. But that's what drew him in. 'It was the devil's music!' he laughed. Samuel Gakungu, Rash's drummer, has his musical roots in a church choir. He came to rock, he said, because it spoke to him more deeply. 'There was no structure, there was no right way or wrong way to do things, I just had to be me, without any judgment,' said the 31-year-old car dealer. He met the other four band members through a friend 11 years ago, creating hits like 'Darkness and Witchcraft' and 'Do or Die' — attracting a fan base of restless young urbanites increasingly furious with authority. In a few hours, they would be taking the stage at Nairobi's premier rock and metal festival: Undertow. Rock in Kenya has had an uneven ride. A decade ago, bands would sometimes show up for gigs that had been canceled without their knowledge. Audiences were tiny. The closure of Kenya's only rock radio station, XFM, in 2019 and the arrival of covid in 2020 nearly smothered the scene altogether. The first Undertow concert in April 2022 rescued bands on the brink of collapse by providing a dependable gig and venue. Now a well-established quarterly event held in Nairobi's upscale Westlands District — its neon-nightclub-lined promenade nicknamed Electric Avenue — the concert has featured most of Kenya's 16 commercial rock bands, said Wathi. The musicians still have day jobs. Irony Destroyed, a metalcore group with pugnacious lyrics and reverberating bass, is composed of a lawyer, a writer and a product manager for a fintech company. The howling, thrashing sounds of Last Year's Tragedy are generated by an advertising strategist, a product designer, a logistics manager and a journalist. Practice time is scarce and precious. In a last-minute rehearsal in the lead-up to Undertow, Last Year's Tragedy's vocalist David 'Madman' Mburu paced across a tiny floor writhing with cables, crowding pianist Rono Kipkulei and nearly knocking over bass guitarist Mahia Mutua. A copy of Leo Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina' muffled the drum set as they thrashed out 'Of Villains and Heroes' from their first record, released last year. Irony Destroyed, meanwhile, had to scramble to replace drummer Cyrus Kamau after he dislocated his arm in a motorbike accident just a week before the concert. Kamau, only able to use one hand, had to train his replacement, Larry Kim, after they both finished work. 'Start with a little ascent, tone it down and build it up again,' he advised Kim. They practiced until midnight, when police prowled the empty streets and the last vibrations rolled over the lone tea seller still in the alley outside. Some bands have made it onto streaming platforms like Spotify, which hasn't brought in much cash but has broadened their reach. Last Year's Tragedy's song '47' has become an anthem among Kenyan youths, with its lyrics raging against the country's politicians. 'These so-called leaders/ Who sit on their ivory towers/ (These never-ending cycles)/ Stealing and killing,' raged the band. 'We will watch them all/Burn!' Anne Mwaura, 29, is the host of Capital FM's rock show 'The Fuse,' which now gets around 3 million online listeners every month. She has hosted the show since its inception and remembers when it used to be the same handful of bands all the time. Now, she says, the scene is much more diverse, with all-female bands and Christian rock groups breaking onto the airwaves. 'It's really a genre for everyone,' she said. When the radio station once considered axing the show, she said, enough people wrote in to persuade the managers to keep it on air. Undertow's ticket prices mean the audience is mostly middle-class. An advance ticket goes for around 1,000 Kenyan shillings (a little under $8), and it's a bit more at the door. That's more than two days' wages for most people. About 200 men and women, some with thickly mascaraed eyes and studded collars, head-banged in a mosh pit. A tarot reader read palms on the balcony, and a cloud of cigarette smoke enveloped the barman as he sloshed beers to the crowd. Regulars Margaret Nekesa, 29, and husband Dennis Mwangi, 33, met because Mwangi had a home studio, and they had both been in local bands. Now they have a 1-year-old son — home that night with a sitter — but they still compose and play music. They're seven songs into an album, Nekesa yelled over the music. 'I come from a very, very strict family, a military family … you had to dress in a certain way, you had to appear in a certain way,' she said. 'There was no space for exploration or discovery of self, so rock music gave me all that I missed.' She was drowned out as Irony Destroyed stormed onto the stage. Masked musicians belted out their single 'Najiskia Kuua Tena,' which translates to 'I feel like killing again.' A bloodred liquid oozed from the mouth of Preston 'Riot' Mado, Irony Destroyed's guest vocalist, as they broke into the crowd's favorite hit, 'Scholar of First Sin.' Later, Rash belted out a rendition of the Cranberries' song 'Zombie' — a scream against the brutality of Northern Ireland's Troubles, the decades in which British security forces battled Irish paramilitaries and civilians were caught in the crossfire. The lyrics resonate in Nairobi, where young demonstrators have been shot, kidnapped and teargassed as they protest government corruption and police violence. The protests saw parliament set aflame and the bodies of slain college students wrapped up in Kenyan flags, fished from dams or carried through the capital before banks of television cameras. 'But you see, it's not me, it's not my family/ In your head, in your head, they are fightin',' the crowd screamed along with the band. 'With their tanks and their bombs and their bombs and their guns/ In your head, in your head, they are cryin'.'
