Ricky Gervais on celebrities and their problems

Gervais being a genius. Again.
brycewi19says...

Yes, Gervais is simply brilliant and hilarious - easily one of my favorite comedians. That being said, I really don't like that he over-simplifies real mental health issues like depression.

I don't much like the attitude of "get over it" that he carries which many others carry. No matter what your income or status, depression can affect you. There's more that goes in to a diagnosis than just your environmental criteria.

Sure, I don't feel too empathetic for a rich celebrity whining about depression or drug addiction as they have every resource in the world at their fingertips to get them recovered. But again, over-simplifying real mental health issues isn't responsible either.

*health

dannym3141says...

Don't be silly boys and girls, i shouldn't have to explain this to you..

He's not saying depression is nothing, he's not saying working class people don't get depression. His family was working class, low working class at that. He's saying working class people don't moan about it, they try and get on with it. They don't whine to the papers about feeling disconnected, they don't call their publicist before they call the rehab centre. They don't even call the rehab centre. They get up, and get their kids to school, and get the fuck on with it, and do the best they can.

Gervais is slagging off these people who don't have depression, they have 'oh i feel a bit meh' or 'i'm a bit upset', or worst still "oh i need some publicity". And he's slagging off people who need to put a label on everything so that there's an excuse. No i'm not a bit of a whore, i'm addicted to sex. Oh please. I agree with him, i know what he means.

rosekatsays...

>> ^Samaelsmith:
^ Agreed. Where does he get the idea that working class people don't suffer from depression?


The point he's making is that celebrities are pandered to, and succumbing to their 'depression' is like a luxury that most working-class aren't and can't be afforded. 'Cause they have to get their kids off to school, so they suck it up. Also, he may be inferring that the term 'depressed' is used too lightly and inaccurately as a blanket of irresponsibility. Everyone feels like crap sometimes, for an hour, a day, sometimes a few weeks - doesn't mean you're clinically depressed, that requires professional assessment. And yes I understand that loads of people are going through their lives with undiagnosed depression, and that is a damn shame.

Edit: Guess I was beaten to the explanation by dannym! Next time a type before I grab a snack!

westysays...

yah he is not saying people don't get depressed , just saying ritch people should not moan about it in the public eye and "use" it as they do. and the fact that pore working class people obvously still have depressoin but they are not aforded the luxuary to complain about it , because they have to work and earn money , and that its ironic that ritch people have gotten pore working class people to worry about the ritch who often toimes dont have real mental helth issues they r just pandering to the midea or are spoilt fucks
.

westysays...

>> ^chilaxe:
>> ^sirex:
>> ^westy:
ritch people.... pore working class people
.

awesome...

Try to be understanding. Westy writes from his room at celebrity rehab, where he's overcoming his sex addiction.



Just takes to long for me to spell check into word (or using Google) and then paste it into websites ,

the Fire fox spell prediction is not that good so Evan when u select words to fix spelling they are often the wrong ones or worse than something that's a phonetic approximation.

I treat spelling on web-pages the same way people treat chatting in the pub , actually i think spelling is less important than talking clearly Evan when its a written forum.

At least with bad spelling its possible to work out the meaning quite easily especially if its largely written in phonetic way.

Its interesting how allot of people treat bad spelling like bad math , Evan though language can function perfectly well with bad spelling and in fact Manny words come out of bad spelling of other languages that we stole . but math almost always brakes Evan if u just change one small component. Thats really the charm of written languages the open and interpretable/subjective nature of them facilitates a natural redundency in the data , where as math dose not , not naturally anyway and arguably that's wherein-lies the charm of math and its use within science.

00Scud00says...

>> ^westy:
yah he is not saying people don't get depressed , just saying ritch people should not moan about it in the public eye and "use" it as they do. and the fact that pore working class people obvously still have depressoin but they are not aforded the luxuary to complain about it , because they have to work and earn money , and that its ironic that ritch people have gotten pore working class people to worry about the ritch who often toimes dont have real mental helth issues they r just pandering to the midea or are spoilt fucks
.


How can you be so sure that they're intentionally complaining about this in public? In our celebrity obsessed culture we read publications which do nothing but follow a celebs every move, that and being obsessed with human drama the way we are it's no surprise that every time a celebrity has even a little problem it's going to be plastered all over the papers like it's the end of the world. I seriously doubt most of these people want you to know about these parts of their lives, but we're always pressing for more.
Having been treated for depression I have met many others who get treated for it as well, and they come from all walks of life and being "working class" doesn't stop them from complaining, you just don't hear about it because nobody gives a damn when you are just another ordinary person. That whole concept of just "sucking it down" and getting on with life usually just means they quietly continue to suffer until it finally reaches a breaking point and something serious happens.
Sure, part of me rolls my eyes whenever somebody rich or famous or anyone who seems to have a better life than mine runs into these problems but that does not make them any less legitimate. The idea that all you have to do to feel better is realize that someone out there has it worse than you is a fallacy and almost never actually works, either the person winds up feeling bad for that person too or they feel worse about themselves for feeling bad in the first place.
Ugh! sorry for the long post but sometimes this kinda crap needs a response.

Samaelsmithsays...

>> ^dannym3141:
He's saying working class people don't moan about it, they try and get on with it. They don't whine to the papers about feeling disconnected, they don't call their publicist before they call the rehab centre. They don't even call the rehab centre. They get up, and get their kids to school, and get the fuck on with it, and do the best they can.


Ah, but many working class people do moan about it, just not to the media. And yes some do just get on with their lives but many don't. Some get help with therapy or anti-depressants (not just for the rich btw). Some also "get up and get their kids to school" and then go home and blow their brains out because life is too crushingly miserable to cope with anymore.>> ^dannym3141:
Gervais is slagging off these people who don't have depression, they have 'oh i feel a bit meh' or 'i'm a bit upset', or worst still "oh i need some publicity". And he's slagging off people who need to put a label on everything so that there's an excuse. No i'm not a bit of a whore, i'm addicted to sex. Oh please. I agree with him, i know what he means.


I don't really follow celebrities much so I don't know who he's referring to. If that is what he is saying then by all means, I agree with you. *If* he were to paint them all with the same brush however then I think he would be doing a disservice to the ones that are really suffering. And yes it is possible to have fame and money and still suffer, just ask Kurt Cobain or Marilyn Monroe.

And I agree with brycewi19 and 00Scud00 that the attitude of "just suck it up" or "just get over it" is a pretty ignorant view of something as serious as depression. If only it were that simple.

demon_ixsays...

As someone who is currently receiving treatment for depression, all I can say is Fuck you very much, Mr. Gervais. If you really think saying "snap out of it" is enough, you have no idea wtf you're talking about.

Also, I never thought you were funny.

schmawysays...

Same goes for "drinking too much? just stop it then". Shows very little understanding.
>> ^demon_ix:
As someone who is currently receiving treatment for depression, all I can say is Fuck you very much, Mr. Gervais. If you really think saying "snap out of it" is enough, you have no idea wtf you're talking about.
Also, I never thought you were funny.

westysays...

>> ^00Scud00:
>> ^westy:
yah he is not saying people don't get depressed , just saying ritch people should not moan about it in the public eye and "use" it as they do. and the fact that pore working class people obvously still have depressoin but they are not aforded the luxuary to complain about it , because they have to work and earn money , and that its ironic that ritch people have gotten pore working class people to worry about the ritch who often toimes dont have real mental helth issues they r just pandering to the midea or are spoilt fucks
.

How can you be so sure that they're intentionally complaining about this in public? In our celebrity obsessed culture we read publications which do nothing but follow a celebs every move, that and being obsessed with human drama the way we are it's no surprise that every time a celebrity has even a little problem it's going to be plastered all over the papers like it's the end of the world. I seriously doubt most of these people want you to know about these parts of their lives, but we're always pressing for more.
Having been treated for depression I have met many others who get treated for it as well, and they come from all walks of life and being "working class" doesn't stop them from complaining, you just don't hear about it because nobody gives a damn when you are just another ordinary person. That whole concept of just "sucking it down" and getting on with life usually just means they quietly continue to suffer until it finally reaches a breaking point and something serious happens.
Sure, part of me rolls my eyes whenever somebody rich or famous or anyone who seems to have a better life than mine runs into these problems but that does not make them any less legitimate. The idea that all you have to do to feel better is realize that someone out there has it worse than you is a fallacy and almost never actually works, either the person winds up feeling bad for that person too or they feel worse about themselves for feeling bad in the first place.
Ugh! sorry for the long post but sometimes this kinda crap needs a response.



you cannot be always sure , I was just making the point that his joke was based on that contrast.

I did not say rich people do not suffer from it.

The simple fact is Winging about it to people Dose not help , Talking to close frends in a resnable way can help , but primaraly you would need to seek proper help real councoling and talk to trusted people about it.

I'm pritty sure gavias is talking specifcly about winging celebraties that say and do 90% of there actions for publicity weather or not they are real , needed ,or not celebraties that seek real help and then it happens to be reported by some retarded magazine.

so yes depression and mental illness and the such like are an important issue and people should educate themselves on (as they should a mirrad of things) , but this dose not mean you cannot take the piss out of it directly or Evan take the piss out of celebrates or people that exploit and maby at times exaggerate it for publicity or for attention.


but yah regardless evan if people were legitimatly mentaly ill and they had gone to sumone private and it then got out , there would still be a ligitmate logic in the humor to the joke in the sence that its funny that some people are afforded the money to complain and be able to get help , whalst others have to suffer and not complain becuse they dont have time.

Gallowflaksays...

>> ^demon_ix:
As someone who is currently receiving treatment for depression, all I can say is Fuck you very much, Mr. Gervais. If you really think saying "snap out of it" is enough, you have no idea wtf you're talking about.
Also, I never thought you were funny.


As someone who was receiving treatment for serious, clinical depression for two years and was rendered genuinely pyschologically non-functional, I completely agree with Gervais.

"Snap out of it" isn't the gist of what Gervais is saying here, but rather that celebrities are fucknuts. "Depression" is not synonymous with "feeling a bit under the rain this week, I might as well milk a few hundred K out of an exclusive interview with Who Gives a Fuck Daily". Depression is a serious issue that's trivialized by these cocklords whose only life interest is their own vapid, superficial prosperity, clamoring for attention and publicity in whatever forms they can find.

I'm not denying that some "celebrities" might well be under the influence of deep depression but, at the same time, my sympathy melts away right around the point that they start publishing books and giving interviews. That's the problem with attention-seekers - they'll use anything in their life as arsenal to get more people to look at them.

00Scud00says...

>> ^Gallowflak:
>> ^demon_ix:
As someone who is currently receiving treatment for depression, all I can say is Fuck you very much, Mr. Gervais. If you really think saying "snap out of it" is enough, you have no idea wtf you're talking about.
Also, I never thought you were funny.

As someone who was receiving treatment for serious, clinical depression for two years and was rendered genuinely pyschologically non-functional, I completely agree with Gervais.
"Snap out of it" isn't the gist of what Gervais is saying here, but rather that celebrities are fucknuts. "Depression" is not synonymous with "feeling a bit under the rain this week, I might as well milk a few hundred K out of an exclusive interview with Who Gives a Fuck Daily". Depression is a serious issue that's trivialized by these cocklords whose only life interest is their own vapid, superficial prosperity, clamoring for attention and publicity in whatever forms they can find.
I'm not denying that some "celebrities" might well be under the influence of deep depression but, at the same time, my sympathy melts away right around the point that they start publishing books and giving interviews. That's the problem with attention-seekers - they'll use anything in their life as arsenal to get more people to look at them.


I don't doubt for a minute that there are narcissistic attention whores out there that use their problems as a way of staying in the spotlight, I'm still not sure how you can tell the difference between an "attention-seeker" and someone who's genuine about sharing their experiences. How about a few examples, name someone you see as an attention whore and then someone who you think is genuine, I'd be interested in knowing what the difference is.
When it comes to mental illness I think silence is one of the biggest killers and if doing an interview or writing a book helps people and brings attention to the issue then bully for them I say.
As for Gervais I don't hate the guy, I think he's a pretty funny and sometimes I give comedians (especially good ones) a break on saying outrageous crap, hell if they don't piss me off every now and again I start to think that they're slacking off. Also I could forgive it as pretty much everyone suffers a case of foot-in-mouth disease every now and again, luckily most of us don't have the means to broadcast it to millions.
Also, westy, you still seem to be under the impression that all working class people just stoically soldier on when they get these problems, a heart-attack doesn't care whether you have time for it or not it just happens. Depression is the same way, you get so depressed that you can't do anything anymore, maybe you lose your job or your family, or your life.

kymbossays...

I get what he's trying to say, but he does seem to imply that celebrities don't deserve to be depressed because they have money. Does Tiger Woods deserve to be depressed? Even though he sowed the seeds of his current situation, a bit of 'stiff upper lip' is not going to drag him out of the mud.

The thing that grates on me about Gervais is that he tries to criticise the system while being a complete attention whore squarly within the system himself. At least he kind of accepts the hypocrisy of his position, but I'm not sure that negates it.

moopysnoozesays...

For me, celebrities that I don't have a huge amount of sympathy for are those who, like mentioned in above comments, milk it with the media and books. It's funny how you don't hear that much about the private lives of some celebrities like Scarlett Johansson or Famke Janssen yet I know everything about Britney and Lohan.
It is very possible to stay out of the gossip column everyday if you wanted.

If a celebrity is going through depression, surely you would be better off trying to get better without absolutely everyone knowing and judging you? And if their intentions are to bring depression to the open and to help others, I would have more respect for them if they did not make money out of it by doing free events or donating earned monies from appearances to charities of the cause.

I know someone who uses the sentence I'm so depressed much too often. Instead of saying how an xyz situation made her upset or downed her mood a bit, she would always say that it made her depressed. I'm so depressed today, going to Tescos and seeing all these people makes me depressed, that dog makes me depressed, my hair makes me depressed, adverts make me depressed.
Guess what I want to say to this person? Stop cheating on your boyfriend, find a job and GET OVER IT.

Anyhoo, something that people may be missing is this is comedy. Do we believe everything that comedians say for a laugh? Many comedians make up situations and opinions posing them as real ones. After watching and listening to Gervais for quite a while, I am quite sure that he wouldn't tell someone with a real issue like depression or alcoholism to "get over it". Here he is addressing the attention whores.
In any case, he generalised and exaggerated because he's a comedian and not a spokesperson for the NHS.

siftbotsays...

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