Television Ricky Gervais- SuperNature

ZupZup

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I used to generally like his stuff... but his 'new stuff' does seem very tired. He's been doing trans jokes and anti-religion stuff for years.

Generally it seems like trans people are getting a pretty rough time of it at the moment, even more so than usual... with the right wing generally pushing their human rights as the latest culture war issue. I wouldn't class myself as someone easily offended by any stretch, but for me, it's just not a subject I think is great comedy value at the moment.
 

UnofficialDevil

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I never really found him that funny at all, didn't like the office, no idea how anyone could watch it. Some of his other stuff is ok.

But, in the first ten minutes alone he makes jokes about trans people, disabled toddlers, god, reincarnation, ghost hunters and dead babies. Yet, everyone is going mad about this little bit, it's basically just free advertising for him.

Where are all the complaints from the offended believers in god and reincarnation, ghost hunters, disabled toddlers and people who've buried babies? I laughed at the dead baby joke, it didn't offend me, because I did laugh at my babies funeral, I know it can happen.
Whhhhhhhaaaaaat??? :houllier:
 

HTG

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Boring dude goes for the low hanging fruit. Shocking.
 

2 man midfield

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I’m a massive fan of the XFM/Karl/Early Ricky and Steve stuff and even I thought the office wasn’t all that. It’s alright.
 

hobbers

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I am not here to praise or denounce Ricky Gervais but all he has done here is parrot gender ideology for laughs.

A committed gender ideologue would not disagree with anything Gervais has said.

I don't get the furore over this and people are reacting exactly as the producers (and indeed, Gervais) would want. He hasn't said anything controversial while inciting controversy. It's genius, in a way.
Yeah he's set a very obvious trap and predictably a lot of 'twitter people' have fallen into it.

Now a really shit hour of comedy is going to be the most watched thing on Netflix. And one special will probably turn into 3 or 5, and another couple of Gervais scripted tv shows.
 

Camilo

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It’s like people grow up thinking they have got everything right, that their form of progressivism is the right one and it becomes immutable so when the world moves on and the next generation of progressives starts to move the dial and introduce new ideas that they find it hard to understand or subscribe to, they kick into defensive mode and start lashing out… “it’s not me it’s them!”
That's it, but it doesn't make him wrong, or right. It happens with every generation. 15 year olds from today will be seen as disgusting racist, raping, sexist child molesters in 100 years.. It's inevitable. We're all cnuts.

It's better not to see the youth as "right" I reckon. They're just as fecked as everyone else, just in a different way we haven't noticed yet. And when we do notice, we'll be wrong with our judgement anyway.

Best just to do our best and get on with it, happy in the knowledge that we're all self important pricks. I'll do my best to be decent along the way.
 

cyberman

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i'm genuinely wondering why it's offensive to trans people at all. Is it that any joke about a trans person is automatically offensive? Because the jokes seemed very mild.
Shows how fecked trans people get it when they are on the end of so many shitty jokes that such jokes can be considered mild.
There is no funny avenue to bring up trans people, it seems mild because they're shit. they're all shit. Chappelle with his alphabet people bullshit is just as bad.
 

Bosws87

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Shows how fecked trans people get it when they are on the end of so many shitty jokes that such jokes can be considered mild.
There is no funny avenue to bring up trans people, it seems mild because they're shit. they're all shit. Chappelle with his alphabet people bullshit is just as bad.
They are mild, very mild and if there offended so be it.

Who are you to decide what is/isn't funny while preaching what is/isn't offensive.
 

Gavinb33

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I am no expert on this matter but isn't some of this stuff basically what Trans Activists have been saying/doing ergo a lesbian can have a penis I mean how can you not see the absurdity of this statement alone
 

Redlyn

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I like him in general even if he is full of himself. Really enjoyed Animals. Will definitely watch the new show.
 

lsd

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Never watched it never will. Cant stand American humour. Also what's the point of copying. Just do your own thing.

Well they did copy and it didn't work so then did their own thing and it was so much better than the UK version
 

kps88

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See stuff like that (or clips from the office) remind me that he was a genuinely original and funny comic actor and I wasn’t being a tit for finding his podcasts absolutely hilarious. Comedy is like music, I suppose. The fame and acclaim that comes with success can curdle the secret sauce that made them special in the first place.
Really makes you appreciate geniuses like Bowie and Cohen even more.
 

cyberman

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They are mild, very mild and if there offended so be it.

Who are you to decide what is/isn't funny while preaching what is/isn't offensive.
ok, tell me some funny trans jokes.
Not even your opinion if you cant supply any, widely held funny examples.
Ill get ready to laugh.

Also, why am I not allowed to be offended?
 

Dobba

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"You and your paper can feck off."
Saw Stewart Lee at the weekend and he's managed to lampoon this for months prior to its release.

Either Stew is a time traveller or Gervais has been doing the same shit for a decade.
 

OnlyTwoDaSilvas

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Don't think the XFM show and podcasts would have been listenable without Merchant there. He's like the perfect conversation emulsifier.
Best bit is how awful Steven Merchant is at taking a joke. He gives it large to Karl every episode, but on the few instances where Karl gives it back (and usually it's pretty tame, like "I thought you looked a bit weird when we first met") Steve gets in a strop. Pretty sure there was one XFM episode where he's so enraged by Karl's comeback that Steve gives him a dead arm.
 

Eckers99

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Saw Stewart Lee at the weekend and he's managed to lampoon this for months prior to its release.

Either Stew is a time traveller or Gervais has been doing the same shit for a decade.
He really has. Same schtick, same targets, zero evolution as a comedian. Still joking about fat people, evolution/God, identity politics, how great his life is.

He seems to spend half of his gigs justifying his opinions and the other half laughing more than the audience. Compared to someone like Stewart Lee, who's a master of the craft, he still seems very much like a stand-up daytripper who's never really had to earn his audience.
 

Gandalf

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He is an entertainer looking to generate publicity and cash.

It is a pretty easy calculation to make that jokes about trans people will generate a ton of publicity but crucially the vast majority of the audience will be on his side. He clearly does not believe a fraction of what he says but he is simply an actor playing a role when he does stand up and he identified years ago how to monetize his schtik and the proof is in the insane amounts of money his stand up generates.

I neither like nor dislike him, truth is that none of us has the faintest idea of what he is really like because when the camera is on he is always giving a performance. With regards to his work, we all have the freedom to watch as little or as much as we like and I really cannot understand people getting so outraged and offended when there are so much more significant things in this world to invest your energy in.
 

Rado_N

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“You can’t say anything these days” says comic on their own Netflix special.
 

DOTA

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Chappelle I think does it cause he's lazy. I don't reckon Gervais knows how to do anything else. He's just not got the talent.
 

Berbasbullet

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Best bit is how awful Steven Merchant is at taking a joke. He gives it large to Karl every episode, but on the few instances where Karl gives it back (and usually it's pretty tame, like "I thought you looked a bit weird when we first met") Steve gets in a strop. Pretty sure there was one XFM episode where he's so enraged by Karl's comeback that Steve gives him a dead arm.
Karl was savage sometimes :lol: when Karl went off on one about how people on the train were saying how weird looking he is. :lol:

Back to Ricky though, when you spend half your time explaining why your jokes are good jokes and don't trust your audience then you know he isn't actually a very good comedian.
 

RacingClub

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I was a huge fan of Gervais early work, had DVDs of The Office,Extras had his Stand up DVDs(These weren't very good but I at least tried) and listened to all his Radio stuff.

Often recommended The Office to my friends who "didn't get it".

Now I think he's a boring hack who doesn't produce anything worthwhile (and hasn't for a decade) while my friends who didn't get his early work but love "Afterlife" now think he's a genius.
 

Berbasbullet

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I was a huge fan of Gervais early work, had DVDs of The Office,Extras had his Stand up DVDs(These weren't very good but I at least tried) and listened to all his Radio stuff.

Often recommended The Office to my friends who "didn't get it".

Now I think he's a boring hack who doesn't produce anything worthwhile (and hasn't for a decade) while my friends who didn't get his early work but love "Afterlife" now think he's a genius.
Yeah but isn't Derek just wonderful.
 

Ibi Dreams

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I am no expert on this matter but isn't some of this stuff basically what Trans Activists have been saying/doing ergo a lesbian can have a penis I mean how can you not see the absurdity of this statement alone
It's not absurd if you accept the idea that trans women are women
 

RacingClub

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Yeah but isn't Derek just wonderful.
I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are being sarcastic :lol: but honestly a lot of people thought it was.

It was like they had been hearing that Gervais was this comedy master for 10 years and finally he sunk down to a level that they could understand without too much thought.

I'm definitely being a pompous arsehole but I feel that a lot of his later work lacks some of the depth (an subtlety) that his earlier work has and comes across as less refined and basically lowest common denominator shite.
 

Eriku

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*insert James Acaster clip*

But honestly nah, aside from anything else his early shows put me off him as it was pretty clear at that point that his success in TV had seen him overpromoted relative to his skill as an actual stand-up. He seemed to be a relative novice doing fairly rudimentary stand-up to artificially bigger audiences. Not sure if he's gotten better in the years since.
That’s exactly what I’ve been saying.

Gervais is not a shit stand-up, but he’s definitely been elevated because of TV credits and doesn’t have the mastery you tend to expect from the comedians he’s mentioned in the same breath as.
 

big rons sovereign

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He was great on the 11 o clock show.
Never really took to his stand up or even the office.
Anything that was popular with the chebs on the estate I grew up on I've always tended to avoid.
Davidson, chubby, Gervais etc.
Nah. I'm more a Stewart Lee type.
 

Gavinb33

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It's not absurd if you accept the idea that trans women are women
But that argument decimates the notion of same sex attraction no?

Doesn't that mean the idea of being gay or lesbian is dead, further more does sexual preference exist or is denial of a gay/lesbian/hetro to engage in a relationship with a trans person make them transphobic?
 

acnumber9

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I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are being sarcastic :lol: but honestly a lot of people thought it was.

It was like they had been hearing that Gervais was this comedy master for 10 years and finally he sunk down to a level that they could understand without too much thought.

I'm definitely being a pompous arsehole but I feel that a lot of his later work lacks some of the depth (an subtlety) that his earlier work has and comes across as less refined and basically lowest common denominator shite.
It’s almost like something happened around that time. I’m sure it’s nothing to do with his fall out with Stephen Merchant.
 

Skizzo

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It’s almost like something happened around that time. I’m sure it’s nothing to do with his fall out with Stephen Merchant.
Stephen Merchant said:
I am aware of that, but no, I get on perfectly well with Ricky. I think we just started doing slightly different projects. I returned to stand-up after a long time. And that led to my show, Hello Ladies, which I ended up developing in the U.S. And Ricky had a couple of other projects, one of which was called Derek, which he was doing at the same time I was doing Hello Ladies. So we just sort of got out of sync, really. I’ve had enormous success and fun working with Ricky, but I was starting to enjoy working with different people and different collaborators and finding new territory that I don’t think would necessarily have appealed to Ricky. And so we just sort of drifted apart creatively really, but we certainly never had any big falling-out or big argument or anything like that.
 

Hugh Jass

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The Office was brilliant. Not gone on anything else.

Then after life on netflix is full of self-pity over and over again.