Cartoon version of Gervais's podcast

Ricky Gervais's weekly podcasts have been turned into internet cartoons.

Animator Dylan Jones, a big fan of the record-breaking broadcasts, decided they would make ideal short films.

So he animated minute-long segments of it: one featuring cartoon caricatures of Gervais and sidekicks Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington, another featuring Pilkington as a beetle.

‘It’s fantastic dialogue and it was begging to be animated,’ said 27-year-old Jones. ‘Who knows, maybe Ricky or Karl will get to see them and have a little chuckle…'

Gervais has indeed seen the clips - and was full of praise.

He told Chortle:  'I love it. Karl's head, voice, and views lend themselves perfectly to the world of animation, because he's like a weird little made-up creature, that you wouldn't expect to have the power of speech.'

Jones released the two short films onto community websites including MySpace and iFilm. Click here to watch them.

• Ricky Gervais's episode of the Simpsons airs in the US on Sunday. Fox will preface the show with the live-action version of the title sequence filmed in Britain to promote the show on Sky One.

Published: 25 Mar 2006