Ricky Gervais performing his new Netflix comedy special SuperNature.
Ricky Gervais performing his new Netflix comedy special SuperNature.
Opinion by Karl Puschmann
Karl Puschmann is Culture and entertainment writer for the New Zealand Herald. His fascination lies in finding out what drives and inspires creative people.
Look, there are some genuinely funny moments in Ricky Gervais' new Netflix comedy special SuperNature. Not enough to warrant its 64-minute running time but enough to acknowledge that yes, Gervais can still be quite funny when he tries.
Along with those scattered laughs, there's also a good run of lightchuckles, the odd groan and an eye roll or two.
But mostly there's just yawns as Gervais runs through his exaggeratedly smug, shock-jock style jokes with all the conviction and effort of a washed-up covers band musician whose career hadn't quite worked out how they'd dreamed.
Of course, Gervais' dreams came true 140 million times over. A fact he never misses the opportunity to remind you of during the special and, indeed, in all of his past comedy specials as well.
Gervais is so wealthy that it's become his superpower. He can joke about and say whatever he wants and is inoculated from any repercussions. This is why it's a shame that what he wants to say is so lazy, so trite. Worst of all, it's so bloody boring.
Ricky Gervais having a laugh onstage during his SuperNature comedy special.
Because as SuperNature amply proves, Gervais has nothing to say. Not really. He bleats on yet again about how people shouldn't get offended by his offensive jokes because they're just jokes. Fair enough. Shock humour can definitely be funny and there does seem to be a fair number of professional offence takers out there.
But even here, as he once again bangs his drum and beats his long-dead horse, he muddles his point. The link between tired jokes about the trans community and the sexual misconduct of disgraced comedian Louis C.K. is not as strong as Gervais seems to think. He's undoubtedly a smart fella so I'm unsure as to whether this is a boneheaded misunderstanding or willful ignorance. Perhaps that's the joke.
No. He's at pains in the first quarter of this show to explain what a joke is, how it works, what is funny and why you should never be offended.
He also devotes an unfathomable amount of time throughout his rules explanation and, in fact, the whole show, to insisting that comedians should be allowed to make jokes about the trans community and almost obsessively demonstrates his thesis.
The problem being, of course, that no one's currently stopping them from doing so. People are getting more vocal about not wanting to listen to those jokes, yes. And certainly, a growing number of people are choosing not to pay to go to shows where they will hear those jokes but comedians can tell all the trans jokes they want without being forcibly stopped.
During the tour on which he filmed this special, he played venues that hold more than 10,000 people. He didn't get once get stopped from telling his dusty old jokes at any of them. He's rallying passionately against the strawman. Or, strawperson if you prefer.
Ricky Gervais appears at a screening of his Netflix series After Life.
Gervais is in a position where he could - if he chose to do so - use his confrontational comedic style to say outrageous jokes that could shock people into taking a hard look at themselves and reassess certain views they may have after being shown the world from a different viewpoint.
Of course, Gervais has no responsibility to do so and apparently no desire to work a smidgen harder than absolutely necessary. Why sweat it when you can just bask in cheap laughs and cash Netflix's phenomenally sized cheques?
If that's why SuperNature is disappointing, what makes it pitiful is that he clearly still believes he's being edgy or controversial by making jokes about trans people or disabled people or overweight people or woke people or trendy people.
Yes, there are a few solid laughs in the show. But for the most part, he's a rebel without a cause, desperately searching for whatever you've got to rally against.
Proof? He spends a good portion of his time berating hugs. How far Gervais' comic sensibilities have declined and how lazy he's become are about the only truly shocking things here.
