Every HBO Comedy Ranked From Worst To Best
58. Life's Too Short
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s once-lucrative creative partnership came to a stuttering end with this unoriginal, faux-edgy mock doc starring Warwick Davis as himself. Davis, who has dwarfism, is happy to be the butt of the joke and does his level best to keep the show from feeling exploitative, and his performance is to be praised.
That’s about all there is to enjoy here, though. Once again, Gervais, then the most powerful man in comedy, feels obliged to enhance his credentials as a guy who says what he wants, in spite of the fact no one is trying to stop him from doing so. He features heavily in the show and his presence can be felt as he giggles away at his un-PC material.
It also features endless celebrity cameos, reinforcing the notion that the creator cared more about making famous friends than quality TV. It’s derivative of Gervais and Merchant’s infinitely superior previous work, too: for all that Davis is a winning presence, he’s basically doing a David Brent impression.