The Green Quote: Ricky Gervais Doesn’t “Gift” Animals

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by Michael Parrish DuDell January 13, 2009
Categories: Animals
Tags: .

ricky-705666“Ricky: They’re 50 quid down, I’ve got nothing, the African family’s going, ‘Not another mouth to feed.’ It’s ridiculous. There’s nothing in it for the goat. The goat wakes up in barren land going, “Where am I? A week ago I was gamboling through the Cotswolds in glades and then someone just kidnapped me, put me on a boat, took me to Africa.” It’s like Roots in reverse. I bet he didn’t want to go to Africa. I think the goat had no choice. …

Letterman: There may be another way to look at this, but I accept your point.

Ricky: I can’t see one.”

- Ricky Gervais on David Letterman discussing his disapproval of donating animals as gifts.  How do you feel about all of this? Would you be pissed if somebody donated a goat in your name? Chime in and share your thoughts!!!


Categories: Animals
Tags: .
  • http://www.varavegan.se Nena

    I totally agree with Mr Gervais. Why can’t it be crops instead? Or why don’t we let the African people eat their own crops instead of bying loads of it for our milk-cows?

  • http://www.veganjapan.net herwin

    besides the point of possible animal cruelty, the idea of giving a goat or cow for selfsupport is a sympathetic (although i dont agree with it)idea but also naive. Goats for one, hardly have a positive impact on local environment, they strip everything bare. Other animals likes cows, need lots of management and care,and probably also money for medical bills, etc if a “poor family” really wants to benefit it for a longer period of time.
    its much better to promote a vegetarian diet.

  • VeggieTart

    If these families and villages are so poor that the “need” an animal for milk, how are they supposed to provide sustenance for the animal? You have to feed her so she’ll provide milk, right? Why not show them better irrigation methods, ways to provide plant food for the people to eat?

  • Steph

    I agree with all of this! I would be VERY upset if someone dontate to animal curelty in my name.

    I agree that the money could be spent on crops and other alternitives.

  • Aelys

    I volunteered in Africa, and trust me that some parts of Africa are way too hot and dry to grow any crops (in some parts, you have to walk up to a day to go get some water), so milk from cows or goats is sometimes the only thing some villages can actually feed on.
    I understand that some of you are upset because of possible animal treatment (though Africans are MUCH more respecting of animals than Europeans or American) and the effect animals like goats have on the environment, but most of these people don’t have, like us, the possibility to choose between an omnivore and vegetarian diet. They eat what they can, sometimes whenever they can.
    So yeah, the gift of an animal may not be the best thing, but when you have no choice to feed your family, then you go for whatever you can, or what others agree to give you.
    What we have to keep in mind here is possibility to make a choice – we have it because the societies we live in are wealthy enough to give us the possibility to choose between A and B (or even C and D). Some parts of this world don’t. They’re stuck with A or even nothing. So before thinking of the goat, then we should put ourselves into the shoes of those who receive it and the reasons why they receive it and accept it.

  • parrish

    All- Great points across the board!

  • James Shepherd

    What a ridiculous debate…
    Ricky was joking. The vast majority of people simply don’t get irony! Do you think Gervais seriously thinks an African family is thinking “Not another mouth to feed”????

  • beans

    You know this is a joke right?

    Karl Pilkington said exactley the same during the podcast or XFM.

  • Sean

    Yeah Ricky. You stole the “mouth to feed” joke from Karl. I hope you are paying him. He’s got bills to pay ya know. Sickofit.

  • http://ecorazzi David O’ Connor

    I don’t think people realise that Ricky was being ironic about the cruelty for the sake of a joke. The goats wern’t actually sourced in the ‘cotwolds’. I assume they’re bred in Africa and given to the families in exchange for the money raised by the charity. And furthermore giving this as a gift is a great idea. What are you missing out on… A HMV voucher or something… Who cares?

  • hil

    What I found inspiring about the organizations that offer to send animals to people, is that it seems that they are not simply offereing them a way to eat, but restoring the people’s sense that they can feed themselves. Like Aelys said, these animals are not going to places where people can make an easy choice about their diets. Also in the instance of animals like goats that produce milk, or chickens that produce eggs, the reciepients now have a product that they can trade with a neighbor for something they may need. So when viewed that way it is creating community and assuring that a family is being nurished.

  • Pedro Cruz

    I T W A S… A J O K E !!!!

  • http://BrainyBlonde.com e

    I know I’m going to get lambasted for this one but recently I saw what Diane Lane and her kid are doing for this group Heifer bringing animals over to Africa for the people.

    It’s NOT realistic and it might have been a joke he was making but it’s true. Unrealistic. If they can’t grow crops there (and here’s where I’m gonna get lambasted) then they need to MOVE.

    I know people say to me but how will they move without transpo and how will they move their belongings? many have few belongings anyway.. Move them near a water source, a place where they can start above ground gardens. something.

    but if you honestly think sending over an impractical cow is going to stop all these people from starving and dying you’re dreaming…

  • Hayden

    e you took the words right out of my mouth, if they “have to walk up to a day to go get some water” why don’t they stay there?
    I’m not being ignorant, i genuinly want to know. That was a genuine question.
    Seans comment made me laugh too.

  • Louis

    First, Ricky Gervais is a comedian. Anything he says has to be taken in that context. I don’t hold Ricky’s comments as fact no more than I take a country’s head of state to be cracking jokes when addressing current political events. Get your contexts sorted out.

    Secondly, that is almost verbatim what Karl Pilkington said on the Ricky Gervais Podcast. Since Ricky is the primary creative force behind that program I have no doubt that he probably wrote those lines in the first place. Again, ost people think Karl Pilkington is the character they hear on the podcast when he’s actually just playing the part. Do you really think he would be a program producer at the level he is if he were really that daft? It’s entertainment pure and simple, nothing more.

  • Ben

    I’m pretty sure Ricky was joking, unlike Karl Pilkington who originally had these thoughts on XFM and meant them seriously. The goat is obviously a great present for an African family as it eats GRASS, which PEOPLE DON’T, and provides milk and other dairy products. Not to mention if it forms part of a breeding herd, where it will also provide meat. To quote Ricky himself when Karl originally had these ideas… “it is a lovely idea and simply a nice way to distribute wealth”.

  • ben

    calm down mate bloody hack louis lol. is ricky going to ever come back to england and do some stuff there lol. we’re waitin ricky. lol

  • Claire

    Agreed.
    If you need to walk 6 miles or something to get some water, I’d just move nearer to the water and build a stick shed or something. Surely that must be easier than the continuous hours of walking that could be spent doing something else.

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  • Miguel

    It’s what Karl said verbatim. In fact in the first series of the podcast, Ricky defended giving the animal to an African family. here, he’s just playing the part of Karl. Also, it’s mental to assume (don’t assume, it makes an ass out of u and me) that the goat came from the cotswolds. How can anyone have taken his comments seriously. Mental

  • Aelys

    Hayden, to answer your question about why Africans don’t stay near the water source, here are the main reasons I was given when I was there:
    a) sometimes there’s another village nearby already and they’re very respectful of each village’s territory
    b) animals – they go drink to the source so people will keep their distance for safety reasons
    c) spirits – see, for the most part, and especially in secluded areas, they still practice their ancient religion, so if the shaman says the place near the water source is sacred or haunted and it would upset the spirits if the village settled there, then the village simply won’t settle there

  • VeggieTart

    But Aelys, if conditions are bad enough that they can’t grow crops and have to walk miles for water, HOW ARE THEY GOING TO FEED THE ANIMAL who is supposed to provide “sustenance”?

  • http://thebridesmaidsdiet.com bridesmaid

    oh my GOD LOUIS are you mental? Karl is not a character, Ricky does not write his lines. Good that you explained to the stupid people the meaning of irony, bad that you then proved yourself stupid by saying that Karl is playing a character. As Sean says, Sickofit.

  • Mouse

    Yes, Ricky did get this from Karl, and it’s still funny. But Ricky’s not just making a joke – he is consistently compassionate toward animals, even in his humor. He sometimes takes a superficial view of things (for example, this issue is very complex as the comments make clear) but his heart’s in the right place.

  • Aelys

    VeggieTart, I didn’t say all tribes had to walk miles to get some water. Those who do, and there are quite a few of them, are usually nomads by tradition, and having animals is the most secure way to feed the families. Sedentary tribes usually live in areas where water is more easily available, they do have animals, cows or goats, and sometimes grow crops.
    There’s also a third category, sedentary people, who don’t have animals and can’t grow crops – these are the people you usually see starving on TV and most charities go to and give medical care and protein meals.

  • chase

    first off, this whole issue of giving a goat as a present was talked about in the podcasts, season 1 episode 4 i think, and everything that ricky said on letterman was just a regurgitation of what Karl said, quotes such as “not another mouth to feed” and the goat saying “what am i doing here” basically everything ricky said was exactly what karl said.

    im not sure if this puts ricky in a bad light but i feel the lack of any credit going to karl for this segment may hint at ricky trying make out he came up with it. Dont get me wrong i love RIcky just that karl tells it way better, so check it out =)

  • pinafore

    The point that seems to be missed here is that Ricky’s friends and family also have a great senses of humour (as he said in the Letterman interview). Whoever gave him the “gift of a goat” would’ve known about the podcast and knew that such a gift would serve a double purpose: it’s a bit of an “in-joke” (I can just hear him laughing when he opened the card!) AND they gave a resource to a family in need.

    Not only that, but the whole thing gave Ricky a joke to tell on the Letterman show. Really, it’s the gift that just keeps on giving!

  • http://BrainyBlonde.com e

    Oh Dear Michael and Parrish trust me when I say that the story of DIane Lane’s silly charity would make the biggest story you had of the year (hey this past year the MTV story I sent you made the top 5 stories of the YEAR so surely this one wouldn’t do too badly ;) Anyway, I feel better that others saw my point.

    And whomever mentioned that the charities we give to (myself included) are for the people who are sedentary? WHY are they sedentary? WHY don’t they move closer?

    I know these may seem like simple questions but so often times in my years in business with charities it’s the simple changes and questions that no one thought of.

    Look quite frankly before I give any more money to Africa when my own people in America are in the poor house and, as I said in another thread today I lost my life savings to a Jim Trabulse (google news him for the story) I have a problem giving to people who it seems if I keep enabling them they ain’t never gonna
    A) MOVE! MOVE move people. near some water!
    B) grow some crops. do above ground. it’s dry as HELL here – it barely rains. we have droughts now but i grow ABOVE ground – guess what?! SO CAN African people!

    I may sound pissed but as I have been on this planet for 30 something years and have supported charities in the past to feed these people and see the same ole same ole I am getting pissed and certainly not giving any money to the charities who send them giant farm animals. what an impractical solution …

    (actually just making the problem worse)

    Let’s make it work. I would be better off just going over there and not like I’m any kind of genius but sure seems like I could think of some immediate fixes that would help this problemo that seems to have been going on for EVER!

    E

  • http://BrainyBlonde.com e

    ps and it’s not like i speak without a wee bit of knowledge. have a friend who worked in the peace corps for years and explained how frustrated he was that we gave them food and then left and they were in the same damn jam they’d been in for EVER. he said (and don’t get mad- wasn’t my quote) it’s no different than feeding stray cats over and over and then leaving them high and dry to starve or just keep up the sham without finding a real FRICKING solution. like moving the cats and finding them HOMES in a realistic place to LIVE!

    Erin from hot dry drought ridden Florida where we grow above ground just fine thank you very much

  • Aelys

    E,
    If you had bothered reading my reply to Hayden, you’d know why they don’t move closer to a water source.
    I think the main problem generally is that, until we actually set foot in Africa to go help those people, we keep thinking in terms of “western culture,” of what WE know and what WE consider works. In terms of We Know Best, but who the hell are we? Time to step into someone else’s shoes and culture to understand some things and change them by respecting and according to African cultures (and I do mean the plural)

  • http://www.veganjapan.net herwin

    hi everybody.
    its pretty obvious that beneath the arguments, we all want the same, and that is a better life for millions of people in desperate and unfair situations.

    giving goats and cows is a Feelgood activity, but hardly solves the problems or makes life better, is my humble opinion. Its just a “gift” from the Good Western people.
    Things like Microcredit, and Fair Trade, aren’t “gifts” but structural improvements, which are so much better, and so much more fair.

    i had to think about what a young african lady at the Live Aid concert who knows firsthand about poverty,

    Quote from the Heather Mills interview on Ecorazzi :

    “Then about four and half years ago I was backstage at a Live Aid concert talking to a friend of the young African lady who was the baby 25 years ago that they used as the symbol of hunger in Ethiopia. And I said, “How do you feel that all these people have come here to support and do this concert?” And she said, “ Oh if only they stopped drinking lattes.” And I was like, “What!” Of course I went for my latte every morning like so many people. And she said, “Two miles from where we have starving children there are fields and fields of grain that go back to Europe to feed your cattle for the dairy industry,” and I was horrified.”

    Its so true. Better than to give Animals like goats and cows to individual families, we have to make substantial changes.

  • Dai

    It was a joke. Karl Pilkington said it during season 1 i think of the Ricky Gervais Show podcasts. He was serious and it floored Ricky.

  • http://BrainyBlonde.com e

    A-

    I did read it back then and now. I guess my question is why don’t the SEDENTARY people move? That’s what I meant.

    I realize that some do it because of spirits and what their Shaman might tell us and the animal reason.. I didn’t quite get that one (they drink from the source so the people don’t?- maybe you can elaborate on that)

    And very good point about not being in your shoes. I do see your point on that. But also apparently, with all due respect, their way of thinking isn’t working. So if they don’t change their ways they could die (and do die) Again, until *I* go there and see for myself I’m sure I will not fully understand and only know what I’ve been told from others who have…

    Erin

  • http://BrainyBlonde.com e

    Whoops I meant to say in THEIR shoes. not your shoes. If they even have shoes to wear that is :(

    E

  • Aelys

    E,

    Sedentary people won’t move because of tradition. See, African culture is all about tradition and religion, and repeating what your ancestors did. If a tribe has been living on a land for generations, then it’s very hard to convince them to move elsewhere because in their minds, their ancestors chose this place based on what the spirits decided for them and they’re not allowed to disrespect their ancestors and the spirits.

    About the animals: well, as you may guess, the villages I mentioned are in the middle of nowhere. You may not see lions everywhere, but there are elephants or other animals which travel sometimes all day to find water and when they do, there’s a turn in which animals drink (like lions will drink first, then antelopes and giraffes, etc…). Although some animals like antelopes and giraffes might be scared by a human and run away, other animals like lions, cheetahs or elephants shouldn’t be disturbed when they drink or they’ll attack.

    I hope I explained correctly – English is not my mother tongue so I’m not always clear

  • http://BrainyBlonde.com e

    A

    Your English is perfect thanks. I understand the story now with the animals as well. Again it sounds very complicated. I am curious though – if these people (some of which) are starving they have no problem with receiving aid so they can eat? I would think that too would be against their religious beliefs. They won’t move because of the reasons you listed – and I accept that. Do you think it’s right to continue to help them so they have more children who then suffer too? I know this might sound awful but I don’t know that it’s helping. Then again , as you said, I have not walked in their shoes.

    E

  • Aelys

    E,

    People are very shy about receiving aid to eat, or even medical aid. It’s really a one-step-at-a-time thing. You have to convince them you’re here to help and gain their trust.

    The baby-making part is, and I realize I will shock many people, but completely Christian – or at least what I saw Christian missionaries preach. Originally, Africans are not Christian, Muslims, etc… These religions are very recent in Africa. The reason why Africans keep making babies although medical organizations go there and tell them and teach them how to use condoms (which is mostly to stop AIDS from spreading), religious organizations are very present too and teach Africans the complete opposite of what medical organizations teach. And I think we all know the church’s position on contraceptives. So since Africans are very religious by nature, they choose to keep having unprotected sex so they “don’t go to hell.”
    To me, it’s very sad and very upsetting. If religious organizations went to Africa to actually help, I would have no problem with it, but it bothers me that they go on a christianization campaign and ruin all efforts others have made to actually improve the lives of people there. I don’t mean to say spirituality isn’t important, but health is so much more important to my eyes.

  • http://BrainyBlonde.com e

    Dear A,

    Thank you for this insight. Wow, that is so upsetting to hear the Christian organizations go there and (of course) would preach such nonsense.

    I actually have several relatives from the south who are strict Born again/Baptist/Christian and they have had way too many children that they cannot afford. Right here in the US I’m afraid. It’s a mess. I’ll bite my tongue from saying anything further about the Christians and their backward philosophies but I can understand your anger…

    Erin

  • John

    Just a thought, but would it work if you donated £30 to Scope and then they sent a little spastic fella to Ethiopia on someones behalf ?

  • http://www.slimwilliams.com Tracie

    To his credit, and sympathy, Ricky was put on the spot by Letterman and pulled out the most comical anecdote regarding a christmas gift that he`s ever heard. Having heard the podcast in which Karl commented on the goat giving, I have to say that Ricky “performed” like the actor/comedian he has become famous for by telling a crowd pleasing story both sentimental and revealing of his comedic style. Always playing the asshole, Ricky Gervais is a character/persona that is identifiable as opposed to resented. Im African in decent and laughed just as hard through that interview as I did the first time I heard it on XFM.

  • Andy Hone

    This sounds familiar! Actually, Karl Pilkington said that on the 1st of the “Ricky Gervais Show” Audiobook and Ricky laughed hysterically at him!!!

  • http://LLJS47@AOL.COM LINDA SKAGGS

    I BELIEVE IN RICKY GIFTS OF ANIMALS IS WRONG YOU MIGHT GIVE ONE TO SOMEONE WHO HATES ANIMALS AND ARE CRUEL PLUS THE POOR ANIMAL LIKE MYSELF IS JUST HAPPY WHERE THEY ARE. THANKS FOR ALLOWING MY OPINION

  • http://BrainyBlonde.com Erin

    true linda, no one ever asks the animals what they want do they?
    :(

  • Basil Brush

    Ricky obviously googles himself about 50 times a day. If you follow his blogs and his website he is constantly referencing websites/articles and news about himself. The more absurd and derogatory the opinions expressed the more he seems to enjoy it. Everyone prior is spot on with the comments about Karl first making this comment and the amazing thing is he was actually serious. The little round headed mank actually thought they would send a goat across. He also states that animals who are slaughtered for food, ie. chickens should not be treated especially well as they would be sad when they know they are up for the chopping block, he thinks they would be more pleased to be turned into human’s food if they had a crumby life. Again Karl may think this is true, but its only because he’s a simpleton – who means well but just cant get his little brain to kick into gear. All in all there are in it for the laughs and that they do very very well.

  • rghehe

    karl said this exact same thing years ago on one of the old podcasts. ricky almost wet himself and called him an idiot, now hes using this on letterman disguised as his own joke. whats goin on?

  • MaKaM

    HAHAHA
    sometimes the usa’s failure to understand irony is overwhelming !!!

    And yes he stole that line from KP but i am sure he will help him pay for that new boiler !!!!!!

  • bren

    I have always assumed that nobody is actually getting the money you donated, going out and buying a cow and giving it to an african family…. Like ricky said, its a clever way of distributing wealth.

    Providing cows is just one of the way your donated money gets spent all based on regenerating the areas in need. When you sponsor a child for a dollar a day, their not just giving some sick african kid cash….

  • chill3d

    Its a well known fact that people in Africa walk long distances to get water ONLY when the cameras and westerners are looking.
    All other times they jump in the truck and bring in bottles of the stuff.
    Its a cheap trick to get more cash, everyone knows theyre frivolous with thier money, most are heavy gamblers and as we know, gambling is a mugs game.
    Many goats are gambled, some are even used for the famous “mbuzi mkuto” or goat running. An ancient African goat race where locals gamble heavily on the outcome.

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  • ckwebgrrl

    Go Ricky, take the plunge and go vegan! You’ll feel better (physically and spiritually) and your fans will support you… obviously!

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