Ricky Gervais: SuperNature

It baffles why Gervais, a man who is clearly very smart, loves animals, has professed support for vulnerable communities and has condemned racism, homophobia and misogyny, continues to traffic in exactly that in the name of comedy.

If trans people are to be thrown to the wolves of comedy, one would hope the wolves would at least be funnier.

The problem with SuperNature, as with much comedy these days, progressive or irreverent, is that it finds itself sucked into the self-referential death spiral of the culture wars.

Everyone knows Gervais does these sorts of bits, so there’s no surprise factor in SuperNature. I hate to alarm Gervais, of whom I am a fan, but it’s possible that this new hour of standup won’t cause any protests.

Gervais reflects upon and provokes to gift us a collection of the best jokes in these times of overplayed [political] correctness. [Full review in Spanish]

The guy is just an achingly conventional millennial posing as a naughty maverick.

There’s plenty to be offended by if you don’t see what the joke really is -- or its target -- but he’s an equal opportunities offender, at least.

[Gervais] takes on the hot potato du jour – transgender identity – and proves himself an agile and intelligent commentator, as well as a bloody funny one...The outcry against him sounds like the death knell of cancel culture – or at least the first toll.

Gervais is truly off-putting in SuperNature, a detestable combination of smug and obtuse.

While the jokes can be utterly savage, what comes after the punchline is often quite poignant.