The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
Ricky Gervais Live: Animals
Comedy · 2003
Ricky Gervais entertains a live audience in his first stand-up routine.
Movie details
Ricky Gervais Live: Animals
“Life on Earth: the bits David Attenborough left out”
2003 Comedy 1h 13m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
8.0 / 10
5.2K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
83 %
Tomatometer
TMDB
7.1 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
Ricky Gervais entertains a live audience in his first stand-up routine.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Ricky Gervais Live: Animals?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Ricky Gervais: Armageddon
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Ricky Gervais dishes out controversial takes on political correctness and oversensitivity in a taboo-busting comedy special about the end of humanity.
Ricky Gervais: Mortality
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Ricky Gervais tackles life, death and the state of the world in a brutally honest special that spares no topic, even his own mortality.
Bill Burr: Drop Dead Years
Comedy · 2025
In what might be his most personal and introspective hour yet, Bill offers hilarious takes on everything from male sadness to dating advice.
Ricky Gervais Live 4: Science
Comedy · 2010
Ricky Gervais Live IV Science or the way things worked before we invented God. The hilarious fourth live smash hit stand up show from Ricky Gervais, following his complete sell out tour - filmed live at London's Hammersmith HMV Apollo
Shane Gillis: Beautiful Dogs
Comedy · 2023
In a rowdy stand-up set, Shane Gillis riffs on his girlfriend's Navy SEAL ex, touring George Washington's house and being bullied by an Australian Goth.
Jimmy Carr: Being Funny
Comedy · 2011
Having performed live to over 1.2m people, the UK’s hardest working comedian Jimmy Carr, is back with his brand new stand-up DVD. Star of hit TV shows 8 Out of 10 Cats and 10 O’clock Live, Jimmy is well known for his slick one liners and non-stop gags, but his acerbic wit and fast-paced comedy style are at their brilliant best when he has the stage to himself. Packed with over 100 minutes of brand new material, including too-rude-for-TV jokes, hilarious heckling, and even better put-downs, Jimmy pushes the boundaries of comedy and delivers a spectacular show.
The Horse's Mouth
Comedy · 1958
Gulley Jimson is a boorish aging artist recently released from prison. A swindler in search of his next art project, he hunkers down in the penthouse of would-be patrons the Beeders while they go on an extended vacation; he paints a mural on their wall, pawns their valuables and, along with the sculptor Abel, inadvertently smashes a large hole in their floor. Jimson's next project is an even larger wall in an abandoned church.
Ricky Gervais Live 3: Fame
Comedy · 2007
The third of Ricky Gervais' themed live stand-up shows.
Ricky Gervais Live 2: Politics
Comedy · 2004
A year after Animals, Ricky Gervais comes back with his second stand up comedy tour: Politics.
Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself
Comedy · 2006
A recorded live performance of ventriloquist Jeff Dunham portrays a comedian whose revival of an old-fashioned art has made ventriloquism more relevant to modern societal concerns. Starring his six main characters, from Bubba Jay, a Nascar-obsessed hick, to Peanut, a flamboyant gay monkey, Dunham’s puppets have dirty but inoffensive senses of humor that mock the American Dream.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Dominic Brigstocke
Written by
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Self
Court is in session
Put Ricky Gervais Live: Animals on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.