OK, the long and -- hilariously -- short of it is...

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Off limits? Yeah, right: From left, Merchant, Davis and Gervais aren't afraid to mine taboo subjects in search of a laugh.

PASADENA -- Just last weekend, Ricky Gervais helped the Hollywood Foreign Press Association hand out trophies to TV and movie stars in such categories as documentary short subject.

In a few weeks, Gervais and producing partner Stephen Merchant will unveil their latest TV-series project, which is a fake documentary about a sort-of-real short subject.

Believe me when I say the two could not possibly be more unrelated.

While it's true that the HFPA and its awards show, the Golden Globes, are both jokes of a chronically unintentional sort, they're nowhere near as laugh-out-loud funny as the Gervais/Merchant comedy Life's Too Short, in which real-life award-winning actor Warwick Davis (Willow, Leprechaun) plays a decidedly fictional, distinctly less successful and hilariously inept and angry version of himself.

Life's Too Short, which will premiere on U.S. cable's HBO and HBO Canada on Feb. 19, follows in the tradition of Gervais/Merchant's last series effort, Extras, in that it applies a faux-doc approach that takes viewers inside showbiz to learn what complete and utter idiots the people who run it are (or would be, if the amped-up versions of themselves they play were true).

The new series follows diminutive star Davis as he tries to navigate the tricky politics of TV and movie production with the help of (fictional versions of) producers Gervais and Merchant, who are smug enough to look down on Davis and sufficiently evil to take delight from putting him through the wringer.

The series features cameo appearances by the likes of Johnny Depp, Liam Neeson, Sting, Helena Bonham Carter and Steve Carell, all of whom seem perfectly content playing somewhat toxic versions of themselves for the sake of the comedy.

When asked if making fun of a short person is a bit too politically incorrect for TV-series purposes, Gervais bristled.

"No harm can come of taboo subjects," he said when he appeared alongside Merchant and Davis during HBO's portion of the U.S. networks' semi-annual press tour in Los Angeles. "When people say it's sort of outrageous or sick or pushing the boundaries, I don't see that it is. I think some people confuse the target of a joke with the subject of a joke. You know, you can have jokes about racism without being racist.

"I think some people flinch too soon. Very often, the target is people's prejudices or the character's stupidity, and I think smart people know what we're trying to do. We're not trying to just be outrageous for outrageousness's sake -- that's too easy; it's childish and it's petty and pointless."

Davis agreed, saying a few of the shockingly funny things in the series have actually happened to him during his career, and others concocted by Gervais and Merchant felt so genuine that he wonders why they hadn't yet been part of his real-life showbiz experience.

"They've managed to get inside the head of a little person so well and so believably that I was thinking, you know, that these are scenarios that should have happened to me by now," he said with a laugh. "And I'm sure some of them will come back to haunt me."

Gervais pointed out that the real Davis is, in figurative terms, a much bigger man than the guy portrayed in Life's Too Short.

"He's used his own name, but it's not like him at all," he explained. "This (fictional) man is manipulative; he's exploitive; he's jealous. We have to make him an awful person, because Warwick's screen presence is so adorable; he's drenched in humanity, so we had to make him like a Hitler for you to get the joke.

"And I've never had so much fun directing. He's the best person to direct. It's like he's downloading our thoughts, and his physicality is amazing -- he's like a silent-movie star and there's just nothing he won't do. We can dress him up, throw him around, make him climb a bookcase, shove him down a toilet... that's a good day's work."

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 21, 2012 G5