Ricky Gervais to give podcasting a try

To truly appreciate the genius of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's The Office, all you have to do is watch an episode of the American version of the show, which Shanghaiist did for likely the final time last night. No comparison. While the original The Office only blessed us with about a dozen episodes, there are still things to be thankful for: those episodes are worth watching over and over and over again, Gervais and Merchant's Extras is now available on DVD (has it hit Shanghai yet?) -- and Gervais and Merchant have decided to give podcasting a try. Starting today, Guardian Unlimited will host The Ricky Gervais Show. A new episode will be available here every Monday for the next 12 weeks. Here's a description:

Each week, award-winning comedians Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant rummage around in the mind of Karl Pilkington to prove he's not just the village idiot, he's beaten off all competition to take the national title.

Join Ricky and Steve as they help Karl wrestle with such burning issues as:

"Jellyfish - do we need them?" "How could an infinite number of monkeys type the complete works of Shakespeare if they've never read it?" "Why do you never see an old bloke eating a Twix?"

The first podcast is not up yet, but we assume it will be posted as soon as our friends in England wake up. In the meantime, check out Ricky's interview with Coldplay's Chris Martin.

Yes, we are aware that on the surface this post has absolutely nothing to do with Shanghai. But, we bet that many of you bought DVDs of The Office here in Shanghai. And, we bet that many of you like to laugh. That's enough for us.