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Has anyone saw Ricky Gervais latest video *TW*

128 replies

justanothermanicmonday1 · 01/12/2023 01:09

He has recently posted a video on his tik tok of his Netflix special due out in a few weeks, and he's making fun of children with cancer.

I could barely get through the video to be honest. Felt sick.

I know there is dark humor but my god, surely this is too far?

OP posts:
Finteq · 01/12/2023 17:07

Morred · 01/12/2023 16:46

I agree, and also agree that it’s not all that clever. Why is Hopkins pretending to be a cannibal? That’s the story, it about exploring xyz or whatever, it’s fictional. You can argue it’s art.

Why is Gervais pretending to be a comedian who makes jokes about kids with cancer? What’s the point? To prove some people laugh at sick humour?

Show quote history

And there were loads of laughs at the joke, which if you think about it is worse.

CavalierApproach · 01/12/2023 17:19

I’m not especially a fan of his but as pps have said, I guess he’s exploring the line between a joke about something awful (which, we have to be able to make jokes about terrible things because anything that can never be joked about becomes unassailably powerful/oppressive) — and a joke that targets people dealing with that thing, a joke designed purely to punch down.

I might not have that exactly right. But it seems extremely clear that he is at least attempting something with more to it than “look at the mean things I’m not really saying, but I AM saying them, tee-hee”

CavalierApproach · 01/12/2023 17:32

And (as I stand here boiling the kettle) I guess the purpose of that whole thing is partly to generate laughter and partly to prompt people to examine their own reactions. Like if we laughed, why — and do we feel weird or bad about laughing, and why…And if we were angry, why, etc.

Oxonc3 · 01/12/2023 22:48

Ok, have not read the full thread but can someone please explain to me why he needs to do this? Why does it need to be the promotional ‘clip’ for the show? Why is it ok to call terminally ill kids baldie and retard? And has anyone on here actually got a child with cancer that has lost their hair? I’ll wait ……….

peachgreen · 01/12/2023 23:49

@Oxonc3 I imagine most don’t, no. But unfortunately MN will be more likely, as a whole, to defend Gervais because he is outspokenly gender critical which leads to forgiveness for just about any sin in certain corners of this site.

Finteq · 02/12/2023 14:05

The only defense I can think of it,I smaybe that clip was talent out of context. And if you watch the show and the few minutes before and after it might make sense.

But otherwise I think its in really bad taste and shocked at the people laughing along.

HeavenCANTwait · 02/12/2023 14:41

He's a really good egg and is brilliant at the TW stuff

Wish some of the women comedians were braver (though hard to be brave though)

StuartSheehyisBack · 02/12/2023 14:49

OP - I know, I will watch a video of that well known purveyor of dark humour Ricky Gervais, and then sit there shocked, offended and do a thread about how upset I am on MN.

or

OP - I won't watch that purveyor of dark humour Ricky Gervais.

He is a genius OP. You, I am sad to say, are not.

ChishiyaBat · 02/12/2023 16:42

I think it's hilarious. Humour is one of the only things you have to get you through hard times, especially deeply disturbing times. People including children get ill and die, that is life, it's shit, but it's reality. A lot of people rely on dark humour to deal with death and illness, it's not wrong to do that. If you don't like it you don't have to watch it.

JamSandle · 02/12/2023 16:59

Doesn't come across cruel to me.

Honestly in life humour to deal with the darker parts is one of the only ways to cope.

SwedeCaroline · 02/12/2023 17:02

as a cancer baldie myself, I think the clip shown is fine, he did make me giggle

feralunderclass · 02/12/2023 17:56

ChishiyaBat · 02/12/2023 16:42

I think it's hilarious. Humour is one of the only things you have to get you through hard times, especially deeply disturbing times. People including children get ill and die, that is life, it's shit, but it's reality. A lot of people rely on dark humour to deal with death and illness, it's not wrong to do that. If you don't like it you don't have to watch it.

I'm not easily offended, and I'm all for free speech, but I doubt there are few parents out there whose child is a "baldy" because they are going through chemo would find this hilarious. Or calling them retards 🤔. Of all the things that would help them get through their dark days, I doubt Ricky and his shitty jokes would be just the thing they'd need.

feralunderclass · 02/12/2023 17:57

The hilarious bit is RG thinking that kids would even know who he was, let alone put him on their list of people to meet as one last wish!

ChishiyaBat · 02/12/2023 18:10

@feralunderclass The beauty of free speech is that it is, well free. You don't have to watch or listen to him. You are also entitled to be offended by what he says. The thing you don't get to do is decide what other people find funny, so i'll carry on enjoying dark humour in all it's forms and you can just not watch or listen to Ricky and his shitty jokes as you put it.

Totalwarbanner · 02/12/2023 18:27

The first time I watched Ricky Gervais was a couple of months after I’d suffered a miscarriage at 5 months (my third unsuccessful pregnancy). I was in a very dark place.

The show featured a dead floppy baby joke. DH turned white and started to scramble for the remote.

I laughed so much. I laughed, and I cried, it was like a dam breaking. I felt so much lighter afterwards.

I think that is what a talented comedian can do. They can take the unspeakably dark events that infect our lives and hold them up, and let us laugh at them again.

It may not be for everyone but I’m a huge fan now.

Another comedian that does this well is Daniel Sloss when he talks about his dead sister.

peachgreen · 02/12/2023 18:30

For me the big difference there is that Daniel Sloss is talking about his own experiences. His own dead sister. Ricky Gervais has not lost a child to cancer.

My husband died when I was 36. I joke about it a lot, and I don’t mind when my friends and family do because they knew and loved him too. I’d be pretty pissed off if a random comedian with no experience of, say, doing CPR on your (clearly dead) husband made jokes about that.

Totalwarbanner · 02/12/2023 18:37

Yes, something that is funny or helps one person could be wildly offensive to another.

People have different ways of dealing with things. I think the reason I enjoyed it was because he took something that no one else dared to talk about, especially to me, and made it okay to laugh at it.

TinselAngel · 02/12/2023 20:44

feralunderclass · 02/12/2023 17:57

The hilarious bit is RG thinking that kids would even know who he was, let alone put him on their list of people to meet as one last wish!

That's absurdity. It's part of the joke. So you know it's not real

chompera · 02/12/2023 23:36

feralunderclass · 02/12/2023 17:57

The hilarious bit is RG thinking that kids would even know who he was, let alone put him on their list of people to meet as one last wish!

I think that whole bit went over your head.

Oxonc3 · 03/12/2023 17:51

For me, as the parent of a baldie who certainly isn’t a retrd, it is using it as the promotional clip that irks the most. It means even more people see it. It will make it seem ok to call these children baldie or retrd. to the pp who is an adult cancer patient- great that you find it funny. But you are not a Make a Wish kid being made fun of. The lack of empathy on this thread is quite sad. It’s never you, until the day it is.

Lfhm · 04/12/2023 08:23

As a fellow cancer parent, currently in hospital with my daughter, this clip made me feel sick.

I GET the joke, I don't find it funny, but I'm not stupid. So please don't explain it to me. But it's the language he uses. 'Baldy'. 'Retard'. 'Why don't you wish to get better?'.

Imagine a child or adult watching this and thinking it's ok or funny to call my 7 year old baldy or retard.

The FACT that he has to explain/excuse the 'joke' after says it all really. He's not playing a role, he's just being lazy - choosing the most 'taboo' thing he can think of to get some shock laughs.

I really hope I'd feel the same if I wasn't in this situation, as the comments in this thread also make me feel sick.

If you want to find out more about why this is so problematic I suggest you read and follow https://www.instagram.com/p/C0SIXZVprBk/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/C0SIXZVprBk?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D

Lfhm · 04/12/2023 08:24

That's great that you're finally allowed to laugh at terminally I'll children! So happy for you.

Bruisername · 04/12/2023 08:42

good comedy makes you think

what does his joke make me think - that yes, it would be logical to wish for recovery but sadly we all know that isn’t possible. It doesn’t make me think the kids are stupid for not wishing that.

it also puts the make a wish foundation in my mind and hopefully the publicity of this clip will lead to more donations

yes he uses bad language and shock value but if he just mentioned the make a wish foundation it wouldn’t stick in people’s minds the same way

and then he wraps that all up to make a point about comedy

being able to laugh at the things that scares us can be very helpful in dealing with it. In the same way people watch films that are deeply disturbing.

Firefly2009 · 04/12/2023 09:08

Not offensive. Ricky Gervais is a nice guy and very funny.

ElderMillenials · 04/12/2023 10:04

It's kind of the point of comedy- he has his brand and does it really well. He's not for everyone but that's the beauty of tastes, you can choose not to watch it. Some people find Ken Dodd or mrs browns boys funny.

The clip is taboo and divisive, but it gets people talking and keeps the special release in the media- it's called marketing.

He's making a statement, or a few, about what comedy is, playing a role and bringing make a wish into the spotlight too (because he is genuinely quite a nice guy). His other specials have jokes about religion, ME, third world countries, he's got a few bits about racism. None of it is a personal attack on anyone.