The Jester’s Privilege ~ Ricky Gervais: Supernature
I’ve avoided it for long enough. Let’s get into the bangers and mash. Let’s talk about Ricky Gervais’ comedy.
Because I will admit it: I’ve liked him in short spurts. I’ve liked him hosting the Golden Globes, as controversial as he was at the podium. I’ve seen multiple clips of him telling jokes that make me laugh. I enjoyed him in Night At The Museum! Does that count? Okay, maybe I’m not the biggest Gervais fan, but I’m not shy to edgy humor, and I know he’s supposedly one of the most established dark comics out there.
However, there’s a couple fine lines you have to dance upon when you’re in the dark comedy business. One, you have to make edgy, shocking jokes still have their edge and shock after an hour, which is a challenge in and of itself. Two, and perhaps more importantly, you have to make actual jokes and not just be a douchey bigot. For the first time with this comic, I saw both of these lines in action with Gervais’ new show “Supernature,” and to be frank, he didn’t deliver on either.
The main issue I have with him at this point is something I saw Dave Chappelle do in his infamous “The Closer,” which is something I like to call “milking for the haters”. If you could indulge the Wisconsinite writing this, imagine a farmer showing how to milk a cow to a group of children on a school trip (don’t laugh, this was one of mine growing up). A couple of the kids near the front grimace at the sight of the ivory-colored fluid dripping out of a bloated, fuzzy orifice under the cow. Then the farmer, seeing the visceral reaction and wanting to have some mildly sadistic fun, continues to do it past what he planned, just to further gross out those specific kids.
This is what Ricky Gervais does, but instead of grossed-out children, it’s the SnowflakesTM on Twitter ready to pounce on any racy joke he makes. He will take the offensive jokes that he knows will get a rise out of sensitive viewers, and just drag the bit for way too long. He knows he won’t lose his diehards, and he gets the reaction he wants out of the haters. It’s a win-win for him, but for me, and anyone else looking for a good hour of comedy, this transparent ploy to annoy people is not only childish, it’s lazy and boring.
He gets you with a few decent bits, especially near the middle, about atheism and the Zika virus. But then he has jokes about AIDS and Trans people that goes on far too long, and you know it’s because he’s trying so hard to piss off the LGBTQ+ crowd. You almost feel out of the loop at a certain point, like am I supposed to be here? Is this even for everyone in the audience? Am I supposed to laugh or sit quietly as he spews this shit to the offended parties? And why does he look like an oversized gremlin with alopecia?
He is funny in the smallest of instances, and he doesn’t even stick to his own theme of the show. He’s supposed to make jokes about how the supernatural is a lie, but all he did was say “ghosts aren’t real, no one’s ever seen one” and then continued with his “shtick” of being a prick. It’s disingenuous, it’s half-assed, and even though I think he tried to give something resembling comedy, it’s a huge miss on almost all accounts.
1.5/10
