Ricky Gervais Discusses the Bad Economy -- Plus, Some Bad Jokes! (VIDEO)

Ricky Gervais is an English comedian, so some American concepts are foreign to him. For him, an elevator is a "lift," potato chips are "crisps" -- and he calls soccer "football." Meanwhile, as Americans, we just call soccer "boring." ... Oh, we're kidding. For us, soccer is just "soccer." (For the record, the Brits aren't thrilled by our version of "football" either.)

On his new stand-up special, 'Ricky Gervais: Out of England 2' (Sat., 10PM ET on HBO), Mr. Gervais discussed another instance of the Anglo-American cultural divide. One aspect of the U.S. that Ricky is confused by is ... our currently terrible economy.

"I know there's a recession on," he joked. " ... Someone told me [about it]." There was then a brief pause. "It really didn't affect me!" he added, cackling loudly with glee. Aw, we love you too, Ricky. "We can laugh about it now; no, come on!"

Next, Ricky moved from the bad economy to bad jokes -- or at least, to a discussion of them. Since this is the first night of his new stand-up act, Gervais told the audience he'd be using them to test his material, before cutting the jokes that didn't get laughs. So there was some good news: "Some 'bits' tonight will be exclusive to you." And then there was some bad news: "They will be the sh*t bits, granted." Oh well.