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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Ricky Gervais: SuperNature’ On Netflix, Where The Comedian Goes Trolling For Dollars: Isn’t It Ironic?

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Ricky Gervais filmed his second Netflix comedy special in London back in 2021, but we’re only just now getting to see his musings on nature, …
Ricky Gervais filmed his second Netflix comedy special in London back in 2021, but we’re only just now getting to see his musings on nature, science, religion, cats, and oh, right, the trans community. Certainly not much in the world has changed since then, right? Better question is whether anything about Gervais’ comedy has evolved since his first Netflix special four years ago… The Gist: Gervais tells us he called this tour “SuperNature” because he doesn’t believe in the supernatural, and moreover: “because nature is super enough, you know?”
Of course, Gervais fans already know that much about him, whether or not they’ve watched his 2018 Netflix special, Humanity, the three seasons of his Netflix series, After Life, or following him on Twitter. They know he loves to traffic in jokes that offend people, whether it’s way back as David Brent in The Office, hosting the Golden Globes, or again, on Twitter. But the Netflix blurb describing SuperNature informs us Gervais also plans to lay down “the rules of comedy,” and he spends the first 12 minutes of this hour doing just that, using plenty of jokes at the expense of the trans community to make his points. What Comedy Specials Will It Remind You Of?: In terms of British stand-ups, Gervais would love to align himself to the likes of Jimmy Carr, in that both get giddy after telling offensive jokes and will defend to their teeth the right to joke about anything and everything. In terms of wealth and stature in comedy and show business, and a seeming obsessiveness with the transgender community, Gervais gladly puts himself in the same boat as Dave Chappelle. Memorable Jokes: We’re going to have to deconstruct a lot of this, so perhaps the most memorable joke of his right now that feels apt is his bit explaining why cats have barbed penises. This might hurt, but he’s doing it on purpose because he believes this will please us in the end. Our Take: Watching a comedian explain the rules of comedy might seem about as enjoyable as reading a comedy critic explain why a stand-up’s act succeeds or fails. And yet, perhaps ever since Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette dissected the form and stirred the humor pot for kettle-calling comedians to debate its blackness, followed by #MeToo and the nausea-inducing invocations of “cancel culture,” talking about comedy within comedy specials has become almost unavoidable. So, too, I’ve seen so many stand-ups tell a joke, claim it won’t be in special, only we just saw it in the special, that that, too, has become cliché.

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