If Karl Pilkington took Ricky Gervais to court.......

…for defamation of character, would he win? Ricky calls him an idiot, an imbecile, a moron and when he squeezes his head, isn’t that assault? I know that they do good business on the back of all of this. It’s their “act” but what if Karl wanted his day in court?

I don’t think he could sue just Gervais. He probably would have to sue the televison production company producing all those shows making fun of him, RiSK limited.

Good news for him, I understand that one of the founders of said company is a complete idiot, so that would make things a lot easier.

Moved frrom General Questions to IMHO.

samclem, moderator

If he had done it after the very first broadcast on radio, he might have had some kind of a chance. But the fact that he has voluntarily participated in, and profited from, these conversations, would make it hard for him to make a claim, I think, at least under American law.

I think the precedent for this case was settled in Howard v. Howard.

Well played, sir. Well played.

Would you care to elaborate?

In case you were serious…

I believe he was referring to Moses Howard and Jerome Howard, aka Moe & Curly. Presumably Mr. Fine wasn’t part of the case. The point being that both Mr. Howards were actors, consenting to the various blows, strikes, slaps, knockdowns, arrows in the butt, hot irons to the face, claw hammers used as dragging devices in the nose, etc. etc., leading to the fairly obvious observation that actors cannot sue each other, or the producer, for staged violence as part of the act.

My guess is that it’s a 3 Stooges reference.

Okay, here’s a question that might get this thread shot back to GQ:

What if Moe wanted to sue both Larry and Curly, Larry wanted to sue both Moe and Curly, and Curly wanted to sue both Moe and Larry? Would there be any way for the case to be handled in a single trial?

They’d each independently retain the services of Dewey, Cheatem & Howe, accidently meet up at the office trying to get back their retainers after D C & H absconded with all their assets, Larry’s hair would get ripped out, Curly would get a fishbowl stuck on his head, and Moe would sit on one of those pointy memo holder things.

Only in the jurisdiction of Niagara Falls.