To think Ricky Gervais is running out of ideas?

[RosesSmellLikePoo]

I’m a big fan of Ricky Gervais - in particular his writing such as AfterLife and Derek. I’ve always liked his stand up too but recently I find myself not enjoying it.

Im not easily offended at all (obviously otherwise I wouldn’t watch RG at all!) but some of the jokes …
Jokes about Rottweilers shaking babies to death
Jokes about raping an old woman
Jokes about kids with cancer …

He says people can joke about absolutely anything they want and yes they can - but does that mean they should?

The last show was “controversial” on Netflix - quite a bit of backlash. We watched his new one last night and it felt like he was just trying to outdo the controversy from the last one! More jokes about “bald kids with cancer” babies with aids …

He even did an impression of a child masturbating a paedophile in exchange for a puppy. I mean come on … there’s dark humour and then there’s just going out of your way to be controversial. I get the feeling he’s focussing all his efforts on being the most controversial comedian in the world rather than actually being funny.

Any other fans of Gervais seeing this?

I saw it live in the front row of a small venue.
laughed so much at one point I was crying though I didn’t think all of it was funny.

James Acaster, Robin Ince and Frankie Boyle are all woman haters who are desperate for blokes to be able to get their clocks out in women’s spaces so the fact that they don’t like him is a recommendation if anything.

Most recent I enjoyed was Anthony Jeselnik.

I love Bernard Manning, Chubby Brown and Jim Davidson etc

Two of these acts are openly racist though? Don't know about Chubby Brown. RG is not 'offensive' in the way that they are and shouldn't be lumped in the same box.

Absolutely!

Just had a quick look on youtube and he looks good, thank you. Will check out Netflix.

Or other people have a different sense of humour to you. That's ok too. Its not that deep

Completely agree 👍 the way he describes being woke at the end, and what it now means, just hits the nail on the head. The ‘did the dog die’ segment and someone asking if anyone is misgendered in Schindler’s List pokes fun at where we’re now at.

Hmm, where to start..?

As most people have already pointed out - you’re missing the point. Just like you missed the point of my post, just like you’ll miss the point of my reply.. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Also, fwiw, your original post comes across quite self-righteous and goady. Your reply to my post just makes you sound like a petty twat, but perhaps it’s just your writing style.

You asked / this is AIBU / Ricky would approve.

And people are quite okay to look down on other people’s comedic preferences- indeed, Gervais has done this himself (When the Whistle Blows, for example).

And I’m minded to agree with the take that those who profess to enjoy Gervais’ recent output are indeed enjoying the ‘he tells it like it is and pwns the wokeies’ aspect, rather than his joke writing/telling ability. It’s a bit like Donald Trump - I suspect his supporters would have a hard time pointing to any legislative changes that benefited them during his time in office but boy does he appeal to their grievances.

Well, that's quite the take...😂

There you go, you can write a decent reply! Well done

I wouldn’t mind the darkness if his ‘jokes’ were actually funny. But I think I vaguely smiled just the once, and didn’t laugh out loud at all. It just wasn’t funny.

The bit where he explains that wokeism has morphed into becoming a self congratulatory bully, threatening/doxxing people and getting them sacked for stating facts. But he’s like Donald Trump 🤦‍♀️ WTH

Probably have no business commenting on this thread because I haven't actually seen RG's latest show, but I find his writing fascinating.

Couldn't stand The Office and not a big fan of his stand up (not because of the jokes but the way he presents himself), but After Life was one of the best pieces of writing I've watched on a long time. Like most successful comedians, RG is a keen observer of people and behaviour and After Life demonstrated a wonderful understanding of grief IMO while at the same time being very funny indeed.

From a few clips I've seen and some articles I've read, I wonder if RG's latest offer has been diminished by the fact that he's trying too hard to make the point about free speech (which is certainly valid) rather than concentrating on whether something is funny. If you write something funny, realise it's offensive and then think sod it, it's funny and I'm going to run with it, that's one thing. And it will probably work. OTOH, if your goal is to be offensive and make a point about free speech and then you try to write something funny to meet those aims, the humour might just come across as a little bit forced.

Correct.
However my s.o.h is broad.

XFM is very funny. If anyone wants to hear it they're all on Spotify.

Not a fan of his stand-up.

I love him. I think he’s genuinely talented - can just ad-lib in any situation, instead of sticking to scripted stuff. That’s a true sign of a comic genius. I used to think the same of Jonathan Ross - he could just find something funny to say whatever confronted with.

I mean, you're completely right but I'm not surprised you touched a nerve here 😬😂 If Gervais were a TRA I imagine most here would be bending over backwards to convince everyone of how unfunny and overrated he is.

The thread was long deleted but this reminds me of a while back when someone posted about Rowling being a vastly overrated author who hasn't written anything decent besides HP and it suddenly escalated to the OP being incapable of understanding good literature and probably a TRA anyway 🤣🤣

I think though that humour is very much open to an individual’s interpretation. I remember people thinking Lee Evans and Miranda absolutely hilarious, but I thought they were mind numbingly boring and slapstick. I went to see Lee Evans on tour with my adult daughter as she loves him, and remember sitting behind a woman who was laughing so much that she was crying and hyperventilating. I sat there with not even a flicker of a smile.

The only idea he ever had was that he's better and funnier than everyone else and that that gives him a free pass to be an arse.

Can't stand him, never could.

Everyone finds different comic styles funny.
I have a black humour and like Ricky Gervais.
I can’t stand Frankie Boyle though, he’s a knob imo.

All this thread is telling me is that humour is subjective.

What makes some people laugh, offends others.

I'm offended by the likes of Miranda and Mrs Browns Boys as I find the humour of those so fucking shit and probably would not even be able to have any type of relationship with people who enjoyed those shows, as I doubt I would have anything at all in common with them.

But a hell of a lot of people must like them as they get high viewing figures.

What's sauce for the goose, isn't always sauce for the gander.

Nope. That's not what he does. But just don't watch him if you can't understand him.

That’s precisely it, for me.

I’m probably someone that others would describe as ‘woke’ but that doesn’t prevent me from enjoying a well constructed joke that runs contrary to my beliefs. South Park is a good example - I don’t think there’s any view that Gervais advances that hasn’t been covered, often more provocatively and outrageously, in South Park. The crucial difference being that South Park is often clever and (in my view) funny when it does so - whereas Gervais falls flat (it’s noteworthy that several people who like him have commented on the absence of laughs in his new material). It just feels like he’s resorting to pandering.

Well I've just tried to find it on Netflix but can't find it. Not sure what's happening there!