This prickly GQ interview with Ricky Gervais is fascinating, because it touches on all kinds of awkward issues that are really important for comedians who become popular. It even begins awkwardly:

GQ: You've often said one reason the character of David Brent worked so well is because he has a blind spot about how people see him.
Ricky Gervais: Yeah. That's exactly what we're laughing at.

GQ: Do you ever worry that could be true about yourself?
Ricky Gervais: This will sound arrogant: I don't worry about it at all. I think I'm pretty self-aware. I think I know what I'm doing. You know when you've been a prat, you know when you're being a prat, you know when something sounds pretentious. But you're right—by definition you don't know. It's funny, Christopher Guest said to me—we were talking about comedians we used to like and if people go off the boil—and he was basically saying: "What if we become the people we don't rate anymore? What if we lose it and we don't know it?" And I went [grins], "Who cares?"

GQ: Surely you've already heard people saying that you've lost it?
Ricky Gervais: Yeah. But then I sell 30,000 tickets in an hour. So what have I lost?

The interviewer, Chris Heath, asks all sorts of great questions about what it means to portray a vain, narcissistic character for so long that people start to believe you're that vain, narcissistic character. And Gervais mostly blows off the questions, which is maybe a telling way of answering those questions.

• Kathryn Rathke

Remember this one from 2010? Remember "the most hilarious dick move in the history of tumescence"? Remember "Much like cheap sheet cake and Jeremy Piven, this one seemed like an okay dude at first"? Hahahahaha.

Still looking for the perfect V-day gift for the scarred woman in your life? Check out this Funny of Die vid in which Top Chef's Padma Lakshmi, comedian/actor Brian Huskey (Children's Hospital), and Padma Laksmi's arm scar attempt to sell you the latest in romantic scar-flaunting fashions! Because... VALENTINE'S DAY! And... SCAR!

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This just in! Louis C. K. is fucking funny. And now he's given possibly the best Proust Questionnaire ever. It begins:

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Not ever having to fill out this questionnaire.

What is your greatest fear?
You think I’m going to tell you that? You think I’m going to let you print my greatest fear in a national magazine? No sir. I will not, sir.

Adam Carolla and Dennis Prager are going to be at the Paramount Theatre this Saturday night, to "discuss and debate topics as wide-ranging as the afterlife, welfare, parenting, politics, and pets."

There will also be a Q&A with the audience and "no topic is off limits." NO TOPIC IS OFF LIMITS!

Want to see it for free? STG Presents has given us a pair of tickets to give away to a lucky Slog reader! Just send your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with Adam and Dennis in the subject line. (You can also just buy tickets here, if you'd like.)

(There's also still time to win tickets to this Saturday's Jherek Bischoff performance, FYI.)

Lisa Dank, the local pop artist who's best known for walking off with someone's dog, is reeaaaaaaally angry at me, you guys.

Super Double Stoner Angry!

You see, Dank reportedly works for 4Evergreen Group, a company that writes authorizations for medical pot and has been running an independent expenditure campaign to oppose pot-legalizing Initiative 502. And Dank, who calls herself "Your HighNess, PotStar," is extra-frowny-face upset that I dared support I-502. Worse, I posted a video showing her peers at 4Evergreen getting wicked high on blunts—a video has since mysteriously been removed.

And so the wordsmith known as "Your HighNess, Potstar" had all this to say to me:

...which I guess in her addled mind proves all my points wrong, or something.

Don't cross Lisa Dank, ladies and gentlemen, or she might write nonsense about suffocating you with a giant "volcano" bag used to hold copious amounts of pot smoke. Or accuse you of lying—about being gay?—and suggest you suck a clit. Or correct your grammar. Or, you know, maybe steal your dog.

There are two comedy events you should pay attention to this week.

First: Tonight, October 17, at 9:00 p.m. Laff Hole returns to Chop Suey (1325 E Madison St, $10/adv) with headliner and former Seattle resident, Andy Peters. I asked Peters a few awkward questions over email and he gamely responded:

Me: What are you doing in LA? Which celebrity do you most resemble? What is the ONLY THING you miss about Seattle?
Peters: I came out to LA to find work on fun and interesting writing and film projects to be a part of. So far my only big Hollywood project was a trutv show called Clipaholics. I was one of the Clipaholics, which meant I commented on clips of other people's misfortunes. I am currently going back and visiting my favorite comedy towns in the country. Seattle being #1 to me - always.
I get called John Malkovitch a lot. I think all we share is amazing head shape. The major thing I miss is Easy Street Records. I used to live right down the street from Easy Street in lower Queen Anne. I have yet to find a place like it.
Me: Why are conservatives in general less funny than liberals?
Peters: I don't know.... because they know that they are the wrong ones, and it bothers them. They are welcomed to come to my show. I like to get to know what makes conservatives tick....from the stage.

Second: I've always fantasized about being a Roman emperor or parent or someone else who has the power to make people suffer for personal enjoyment. In that vein, Portland's Spicy News Show is trucking up to Seattle to deliver a fucking great show this Sunday, October 21 at 8:00 p.m. at the Seattle Underground (109 S. Washington St, $10).

Here's how it works: Comics will all get three-minute sets, guaranteed. Then, if they want more stage time, they'll have to complete a Spicy Challenge. Spicy Challenges include: eating a habenero, doing a habenero jello shot out of a hollowed out habenero, chew on habenero gum, or eat a mouthful of habenero peanut butter. They will always have the option to surrender and eat ice cream.

This will be the first-ever live performance of Spicy News, and it features a great lineup of NW comedians, including Ian Karmel, Owen Straw, Derek Sheen, and Emmett Montgomery. It is bound to be funny and at the very least, you are guaranteed to see grown men cry. Get your tickets here.

A sample Spicy News Broadcast included after the jump...

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