Ricky Gervais ‘Humanity’ and trans

[BRHaunton]

Not really a fan but DS likes him so we’ve just sat and watched his new stand up show on Netflix.

I was pulling this face

He certainly isn’t pulling any punches on the subject of dead naming, being forced to believe ‘transwomen are women’ or Caitlin Jenner etc.

He’s got to be getting a lot of abuse for that surely?!

[CisMyArse]

Attention seeking little Oik.

[BRHaunton]

Before I say ‘I agree’ do you mean me or Gervais?

[CircleSquareCircleSquare]

Is this his recent Netflix stand up?

[Trailedanderror]

I bet he publicly rescinds it.

[letsgetserious]

Any way to see the relevant section if you're not on Netflix?

[BRHaunton]

I don’t think he’ll be rescinding it. He did about a whole twenty minutes set on it. And according to Twitter he’s said he’s never received such an overwhelmingly positive response for a show before.

I’m not sure if you can watch it in anything else but Netflix? There are some clips on Twitter but not sure if they have the relevant bits in.

[TheMonstrousRegiment]

I have only seen one movie (he played a dentist, can't remember the name) and saw him on a youtube interview (Graham Norton?) once, so I don't know anything about him.

Is he a decent guy? It sounds like the OP says he was taking the anti-TRA POV, is he a feminist ally? Sorry to ask, it's kind of a tough question to google.

[TanteRose]

two interesting reviews

www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/feb/24/ricky-gervais-review-standup-humanity-colston-hall-bristol

www.vulture.com/2018/03/ricky-gervais-humanity-netflix-review.html

[theaveragewife]

Started watching last night but fell asleep mid-trans section. What I saw was mainly mocking Caitlyn Jenner and the fact the public have to subscribe to an alternate reality where Bruce didn’t exist because he wanted to wear a dress.

Ricky pointed out this happened after Bruce was the driver in a car accident where the person he went into died (being careful about my language here).

[LolitaLempicka]

I think the routine highlights the preposterousness of it all. We have to ignore biology and concentrate on feelings.

[EmpressOfJurisfiction]

I don't think he'll publicly rescind it. He's been doing it for months as part of the Humanity tour now.

[Trumpdump]

Ricky's a bloke, so he's allowed to question and mock it. A female comedian would never get away with this though...

Also, RG never apologizes...

[Awrite]

I'll give it a watch tonight.

[Ritzsaltedcrackers]

Ricky is a big animal rights activist and often gets involved in campaigns.

If he could get on board with this it would be massive. His partner Jane Fallon is influential too - an author and script writer I think.

[CaptainKirkssparetupee]

Ricky's a bloke, so he's allowed to question and mock it.

Didn't Robert Webb get badly attacked on Twitter for questioning trans issues?

[MaximumVolume]

DH showed me this last night. He is clearly being provocative, but from the way the audience was reacting, it's clear they were (en masse) sceptical of "transwomen are women".

[LifelongVaginaOwner]

Ricky Gervais is very pro-science and thinks religion is a load of bollocks. It'd be surprising if he didn't think the inane 'transwomen are women' cult was bullshit.

[bigbootsj]

Love Ricky Gervais, he's hilarious. No one forces you to watch or listen, you're perfectly able to switch off.

[cheminotte]

That's a surprisingly positive review from the Guardian. I'm not normally a fan of RG, but it's good that someone is pointing out the 'Emperors new Clothes' situation we seem to have ended up in. Agree with PP that a female comedian would not get away with it.

[TanteRose]

Lucy Mangan's review was also good

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/mar/13/ricky-gervais-humanity-review-netflix-special-sees-master-of-provocation-settle-old-scores

Most of Gervais’s negative aspects – his maddening contradictions, inconsistencies and incendiary aspects – are to be found in Humanity’s opening segment, during which he dissects the Caitlin Jenner joke he cracked during the 2016 Golden Globes. It caused the kind of online-and-then-general-media storm that Gervais affects to and possibly quite genuinely does despise, even as he thrives upon them. He was accused of transphobia for “deadnaming” (ie using the name she used before transitioning) and for referring to her involvement in a fatal car crash as “not doing much for women drivers”. The former was a basic gag that clearly punched down and served no greater purpose than to create a memorable opening to an awards ceremony. The second was a much better crafted thing that, as he smugly explains, played with stereotypes and drew attention to the fact that Jenner was widely thought to have benefited from her celebrity status in a case where someone had been killed

[holycheeseplant]

Well, he's certainly always been a keen observer of stereotypes.

In all honesty I don't think the general public ever think trans women are women. Caitlin Jenner only became famous to me due to the sex change. No one can ignore that. And I didn't know about the car crash. Rather a distraction to become a 'woman'...

[BRHaunton]

I also appreciated the bit where he claims he is a chimp just because he identifies as one and earns the audience they must believe it, never dead and him, and from now on must refer to him as ‘Bobo’. And how he has to ‘live as a chimp’ for a year.

[dorothyparka]

It's interesting that Brian Logan felt compelled to write a follow-up piece to that 4 star review after the error of finding RG's trans material funny was pointed out to him on Twitter
www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/mar/14/ricky-gervais-transgender-jokes-caitlyn-jenner-transphobia

[EmpressOfJurisfiction]

Is he a decent guy? It sounds like the OP says he was taking the anti-TRA POV, is he a feminist ally? Sorry to ask, it's kind of a tough question to google.

I don't think he'd go for the term "feminist ally". But decent guy, yes.

[BeyondDeadlySiren]

Anyone who hasn't seen it, it's worth watching. He says "Bruce Jenner" about 100 times in the space of about five minutes...