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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Ricky Gervaise Armageddon yay or nay?

209 replies

pandosadick · 30/12/2023 23:53

I'm stunned and not in a good way. Watched for a bit but found it too offensive. Apparently when he's on stage and making these 'jokes,' he's in character, like an actor playing a role how? He's gervaise doing what he does. Saying what he says… the fact that he regards anyone who disagrees with him as fucking idiots is laughable. His humour isn't nuanced or sophisticated and I'm pretty certain that the live audience who laughed aloud his jokes about disabled children weren't there for the nuances either.

OP posts:
Pocketfullofdogtreats · 31/12/2023 13:36

orchiddottyback · 31/12/2023 11:05

Your reply made me laugh as some one who has never seen RG live and only watched it as I came across it on Christmas day by accident on Netflix proves your thought process is completely wrong --->"I think people have paid such a lot for tickets and travel that they are determined to have a good time and not find fault that they big up something that if they saw it on TV and didn't know the comedian they would switch channels" .

I pay for Netflix any way watching this was an unexpected bonus thanks, so no i did not have to justify any thing liking it.

I think his entire show just 100% proved a perfect point about the OP and all the other naysayers especially those whom have not watched it and still slating it, as others have already said.

Well, we're all different. I just don't like him. I applaud his outspoken stance for animal welfare but I have seen him on Graham Norton and hosting awards ceremonies and find him absolutely cringe,.neither funny nor clever. There you go.

CeaselesslyIntoThePast · 31/12/2023 13:39

teenagetantrums · 31/12/2023 13:14

I just watched it, laughed and enjoyed it. It's just a comedy show, l don't think people should think to deeply about it

Exactly.
He's not there to appease everyone's ideas of morality. Don't like it; don't watch it.

BasiliskStare · 31/12/2023 13:42

I watched it and didn't think as funny as other stuff he has done , but genuinely I think he is trying to call some things out. Throw the statue into the canal - no but he built a hospital - leave the hospital.

I like what he is doing and he takes the piss out of himself as well . As others have said , turn it off if you don't like it. I do like the way he will talk about trans people without worrying too much.

LadyGrinningSoul85 · 31/12/2023 13:42

Nope.
I started watching it last night.
It was so disappointing to see someone who I've admired so much in the past acting like such a prick.
Punching down is never funny.
As the mother to a trans child, I switched it off without finishing it.
He's lost me as a fan, not that I expect him to care.

And all those staring "You just don't get it" "That's the point of his 'character'" etc, you are just using that as an excuse to punch down too.
Do better.

neverbeenskiing · 31/12/2023 13:50

I don't find his jokes offensive or shocking, I just don't think he's funny or remotely original.

catgirl1976 · 31/12/2023 13:52

Yay from me. I thought it was very good.

tooscaredandtired · 31/12/2023 13:58

really enjoyed it personally.

crumblingschools · 31/12/2023 14:13

@Pocketfullofdogtreats I also find him cringe on Graham Norton, he’s a person I just can’t warm to, so I’m guessing this show wouldn’t be for me!

ASimpleLampoon · 31/12/2023 14:33

I thought it was tedious and not very funny. Tired, trying too hard to be "edgy" but not quite landing right.

Watch Trevor Noah, many of the issues covered are similar but it's much sharper, 28555834 and gets the tone and the points across much more successfully.

GuinnessBird · 31/12/2023 14:44

I can't stand Ricky Gervais but funnily enough I don't mind dark comedy, Jimmy Carr makes me gasp and laugh in equal measure.

Ricky Gervais just doesn't tickle my funny bone for some reason

Yesididntdothat · 31/12/2023 14:47

What "punching down" was there?

yoghurttops · 31/12/2023 14:48

Yes it was offensive. Hence why it was rated 18+ and it definitely wasn’t for anyone that would be sensitive. I think as a society it feels as if everyone is acting like they are so nice and politically correct and woke. Can everyone that felt offence really say that they have never offended anyone?

I am saying this as a person that is an ethnic minority and mum (I’ve been in convos with people that might advocate for animal rights and have quite discriminatory views towards a group of people for example). Yes I laughed at some of his comments/jokes that should have been offensive to my circumstance - but the truth is when something is so close to home you need a little humour to brush it off and get through. Sometimes you need people that are not shy about talking about hard topics - we are seeing a society of people that smile in your face and take their frustration out through being keyboard warriors.

Yes it probably is different coming from a white rich man - it’s much easier to accept comedians that make fun of themselves as opposed to people joking about topics that shouldn’t be any of their business. But like most comedy these days, it feels they only have a certain bucket of jokes and topics to pick from but there is a sad familiarity with what he was saying.

I think as a society we are progressing but as a few people on this thread have pointed out there is still a very long way to go (in terms of equality from race to disability). Those of us that have the “intelligence” to stop and think and reflect will understand that the reality is there is a tendency in society to be swept up by lots of mediocre problems when there are bigger things to tackle that actually requires collective action and not just collective ranting.

Yes his show felt like one very long rant - but was a reflection on topics we have all come across - over and over again.

Sauvblanctime · 31/12/2023 14:57

Not funny in the slightest.

SerendipityJane · 31/12/2023 16:26

Anyone here seen Daniel Sloss ? Plenty to froth at there. Netflix or HBO are your friend.

Soontobe60 · 31/12/2023 16:31

Grimpo · 31/12/2023 00:46

Please tell me he doesn't use the word "woke" or any variant of it. That's a sure sign of someone unable to think for themselves.

He talks about the bastardising of the meaning of ‘woke’. Along with the bastardising of the work ‘queer’. Except now people use woke as an insult, and queer as a compliment. Go figure.

fr4zzledmum · 31/12/2023 16:34

I'm not shocked by offensive comedy - I like it generally.

But I just didn't find it funny? It was just a rant?

Soontobe60 · 31/12/2023 16:34

LadyGrinningSoul85 · 31/12/2023 13:42

Nope.
I started watching it last night.
It was so disappointing to see someone who I've admired so much in the past acting like such a prick.
Punching down is never funny.
As the mother to a trans child, I switched it off without finishing it.
He's lost me as a fan, not that I expect him to care.

And all those staring "You just don't get it" "That's the point of his 'character'" etc, you are just using that as an excuse to punch down too.
Do better.

What is he ‘punching down’ on? Are you offended that he shines a very bright light on the trans debate?

Jingleballs23 · 31/12/2023 16:39

Yay. I like the fact he can say exactly what he wants without reprisal (other than a load of hot air on the Internet!).

It makes me happy that free speech isn't quite dead, yet!

SaffronSpice · 31/12/2023 17:09

Soontobe60 · 31/12/2023 16:34

What is he ‘punching down’ on? Are you offended that he shines a very bright light on the trans debate?

That would be ‘punching up’ to a very privileged and protected class.

Lwrenagain · 31/12/2023 17:48

Scorchio84 · 31/12/2023 05:41

Oh wow I didn't know Dave Chappelle has a new special coming out! I saw him here in Dublin last time he was over & he was brilliant so I hope it's a recording of that one.. actually I don't even care because I love him 👑

I've been trying all day to reply to you but my phone is being a dick, if you have Netflix, have you seen Shane gillis "beautiful dogs?", chapelle is a fan, I enjoyed it!
Sorry to derail from Ricky!

Goldypants · 31/12/2023 17:49

Have no opinion on RG
Watched about 20 min and it was just boring. So turned over

Didoreththeterf · 31/12/2023 19:05

Yay! Haven’t laughed so much since I watched his last special.
People who don’t like him/ find his jokes offensive - don’t watch.

TempestTost · 31/12/2023 19:28

BillionaireTea · 31/12/2023 12:00

no, @SerendipityJane , I know the old saying you're referring to and I was using shorthand to say that actually you can do it and maybe the frog is dead but you understand more about the frog afterwards. It's a super well known phrase, so don't worrt, I got it, and wanted to move things along.

What did you think of my analysis? Did you enjoy the tomato with wheels? Do you think there is value in any cultural analysis?

I'm not the person you asked, but I think to some extent you are right - jokes like this depend on a kind of internal consciousness we all have.

I think you are quite wrong about the thought processes of the woke though, and possibly that is where the joke went astray for you. The problem being that for many people who might be described that way, it is not that they just happen to notice that one characteristic first, and it's a kind of accident. Quite the opposite, it's a feature, one that the ideology makes sure will always be front and center, and yet in many cases it can't be mentioned openly.

That kind of thinking is really ripe for humour because it creates so many mental contradictions, and on the surface, inexplicable behaviours.

Beefcurtains79 · 01/01/2024 07:32

notanothernana · 31/12/2023 10:48

I watched this yesterday. I didn't laugh once. Just not funny and the way he seemed to be trying to please his woke-hating audience was just cringey. He seems to be courting the Jim Davidson crowd. And that's not my people.

I find Frankie Boyle and Jerry Sadowitz funny so it's not the close to the bone stuff i don't like.

I find Jimmy Carr unfunny too. I just think both Ricky and Jimmy are unlikeable, seem misogynistic and hate-filled.

You dislike misogyny but like Frankie Boyle? How is that possible? He absolutely hates women!