Ricky Gervais Uses Netflix Special To Declare Victory Over “Virtue Signalling” Elites Who “Find Anything Offensive” — And Reveals Golden Globes Gag He Bottled
Ricky Gervais is in typically unapologetic form in his latest Netflix stand-up special.
The co-creator of The Office used Mortality — which premiered on Tuesday — to bemoan a “really weird” time for comedy and declare victory over elites who “find anything offensive.”
Filmed at the London Palladium this year, Gervais said: “It’s great to hear this sort of laughter again, because you probably don’t notice it as much as comedians, but we’ve had a really weird 10 years where we’re really second-[guessing jokes].”
He explained: “People find anything offensive, but we pushed back and we won. So f*** them. Until the next time. They haven’t gone away. They’re just licking their wounds. They’ll be back with something madder. But remember who it is next time? Right?
“It’s always these sort of educated, middle-class, privileged, elitist, sort of people telling ordinary working-class people what they can and can’t do and say and laugh, not realizing how important comedy is to ordinary people.”
Gervais has been at the sharp end of controversies around comments in his previous stand-up specials. His 2022 show Supernature came under fire for trans jokes, which he later said didn’t target “trans folk, but trans activist ideology.” In 2023, a petition was started requesting that Netflix remove material about young cancer sufferers from Gervais’ Armageddon special.
Gervais said there had been numerous attempts to get him canceled over the past 15 years — including from fellow comedians who criticize him for “punching down.” “They’ve always failed,” he said. “I’m too old now not to say what I want. I want to say and do what I want all the time. I want to do my favorite thing all the time.”
Gervais turned to anthropology to offer an explanation for the rise of cancel culture. He said: “There’s still two ways you can raise your status in society. One, be competent at something, like, ‘Oh, he’s a good hunter, go with him, he’s good for the tribe.’ The other way you can raise your status is to have virtue like, ‘Oh, he’s not a great hunter, but he’s wise or kind or whatever.’
“And then, with the advent of social media, people suddenly discovered they could just say they were virtuous. No evidence, no proof, just loads of flags in their bio. And they would raise their status by bringing other people down, catching other people out … And that’s where the term virtual signaling comes from, right?”
He continued: “The most annoying thing about virtue signalling is people being smug about having the morality of the age. You’re what you’re like because of where you are and when you are.”
Gervais said he considers himself to be anti-racist, but acknowledged that he could have been a slave owner in another century. He joked: “I’m willing to admit that if I’d have been born 300 years ago and I was white and wealthy, I’d have probably owned slaves. I’d be nice to them, so shut up, right? Yeah, I’d be the best slave owner.”
Golden Globes Gag
The After Life creator also reflected on his time hosting the Golden Globes, praising the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for never censoring his jokes. He did reveal, however, that he stopped himself from making a gag about Jason Momoa in 2020.
Todd Antony/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images
“I thought the meta joke would be to show my hypocrisy and my cowardice, like, ‘I’m ok to slag off actors who’s scared of actors? But when it comes to a big dude, I’m not so brave.’ So I was gonna go, ‘I’ve got nothing bad to say about our next presenter, because he’s got a cock like a baby’s arm.’
“I told my mate I was gonna do that, and my mate went, ‘Do you think people will think that’s racist?’ I went, ‘Why is it racist?’ ‘Well, because he’s a person of color.’ I went, ‘It’s nothing to do with that. It’s to do with the fact that he’s so big, he’d probably have a cock like a baby’s arm.’ So I didn’t do it.”
