Ricky Gervais

What to say about British comedian Ricky Gervais' new work, "The Invention of Lying." Ah, yes . . . brilliant really, hmmm . . . sorry, lying. The film, which stars Gervais and was co-written and co-directed by Gervais with co-conspirator Matthew Robinson, does have its moments -- most of them courtesy of Gervais and his very specific brand of self-deprecating, always equivocating comedy -- just not nearly enough of them. And then there's the fact that apparently no one realized this was to be an actual movie rather than a 15-minute bit nestled within one of Gervais' routines, which are usually quite brilliant . . . not lying.

Over the years, Ricky Gervais has developed a nice import-export business with L.A.: He imports his humor from England, we export our adulation. Gervais comes here to attend award ceremonies and pick up trophies--a Golden Globe in 2004 as best actor in the original BBC version of "The Office," which he co-created with Stephen Merchant, and an acting Emmy last year for his HBO series "Extras." "I walk everywhere, which is not good in L.A.," he said on the phone from Hampstead.

Ricky Gervais made his grand entrance at the Kodak Theatre on Friday wearing a crown and silly grin as a giant sign bearing his name ignited in an incandescent blaze behind him. RICKY! "In any other town, I'd think that was over the top," he quipped. A master of comic self-deflation, Gervais is a big star who never lets you forget that he's just an average bloke.

Not EVERYONE is cut out to be a dentist. "If you don't like to interact with people, you're in trouble," cautions Dr. Joe Marini. "And especially if you don't like to work in little dark areas, you're really in trouble." Not everyone is cut out to play a dentist either, according to Marini, who, in addition to maintaining dual practices in Manhattan and New Jersey, works as a feature film consultant, helping actors navigate those little dark areas on screen.

In a reversal of the usual order, Ricky Gervais' work as a stage comedian followed rather than preceded his sitcom career. It is the success of "The Office" and "Extras" that brings us tonight's "Ricky Gervais: Out of England -- The Stand-Up Special," taped for HBO before a large and appreciative audience at Madison Square Garden's WaMu Theater. (Does that become the JPMorgan Chase Theater now?

RICKY GERVAIS was hanging out with some friends here recently when he experienced another brush with the uncomfortable byproduct of fame. A group of Australian tourists approached the British comedian and asked casually, "Hey, you want to come have a beer with us?" Gervais adopted a look of befuddlement as he recalled the exchange. "I'm with friends," he told them with disbelief. "No, I don't want to go have a beer with you." The Australians seemed surprised.

Actress Kim Blackwell remembers when everything didn't feel so dire. A collage of monologues and poems told through the eyes of eight characters, "Lady K Is on the Mic" (her recent piece at Hollywood's Underground Theater and Annex), was a clear-eyed look at the cultural shifts in post-civil rights African American culture over three decades in Los Angeles.

If the world were run by Emmy voters. . . a lot of gamblers would lose the shirts off their backs. Sunday night's 59th Prime Time Emmy Awards saw upsets galore in some of the biggest categories. Sure, HBO's "The Sopranos," as expected, pulled out its second Emmy for best drama even after that anticlimactic, fade-to-black series finale (memo to creator David Chase, who onstage at the Shrine Auditorium seemed unsure how long his mob drama was actually on the air: six seasons). But elsewhere? Whoa.

It feels like an actual scene from HBO's "Extras." Ricky Gervais, the writer-director-star of the critically acclaimed showbiz lampoon, is sitting on the set of "Ghost Town," a 2008 release and his first feature film as a leading man. A few feet away, a group of real-world extras are stationed on the other side of a flimsy retractable rope line. "They're not allowed to mix with me.