Category: Comedy

Updated since original publication to include all of his specials up to 2025.

Comedian, actor and writer Ricky Gervais has released several stand-up specials on DVD and Netflix over the years. He naturally isn’t to everyone’s taste, and he is understandably seen as controversial or offensive by some. His shows are 18-rated with good reason, because his humour is often very rude and he sometimes covers very dark topics. So it’s fine if some people feel offended by him, that’s their choice to hold such an opinion, and they’re under no obligation to watch him. Comedy is very subjective and open to interpretation, and we’re all different. I’m not going to say whether people should enjoy his comedy or not, and I wouldn’t expect other people to tell me either.

All I can say is that I like his stand-up comedy personally, and I’ve never felt offended by anything in his shows. For me, it always comes down to context, which often gets removed when people report on certain routines or share carefully edited clips on social media. As Ricky has sometimes gone out of his way to explain quite clearly, joking about a particular subject isn’t a representation of a comedian’s views about that subject, nor is laughing about it a reflection on the audience’s views. I don’t agree with the sentiments expressed in every joke he makes, and I don’t find every single joke funny, yet I still enjoy his act. Because that’s what it is – an act, not a factual lecture. Every stand-up comedian portrays a character on stage, it’s escapism. Ricky’s stage persona is not the real Ricky.

In any case, the reason I like him isn’t because of the type of material he does – after all, there are various ‘edgy’ comedians who I dislike, and plenty of far tamer comedians who I love. I just like him because I find him funny. And his routines have no influence on my own personal beliefs, opinions and behaviours, because I know where to draw the lines. I also know that, in reality, he’s a big supporter of rights and equality, including animal welfare, gay marriage, mental health issues, etc. So that’s my interpretation and opinion of his work.

So with all that said, let’s get on to the shows themselves. Each of his stand-up specials, lasting around 70-80 minutes, is loosely based on a particular theme, although he does go off on plenty of tangents as well. And there are naturally some topics that come up repeatedly, including his true views on religion (which I do agree with to a fair extent as I’m an atheist like him), his privileged position, his own health and getting older, fat people (i.e. those who could improve through healthier living but choose not to), charity work, animals, political correctness, and his radio producer friend Karl Pilkington (who has a uniquely strange perspective on the world). But he does talk about other things too. And even when topics are revisited, there are usually new jokes and observations, so it doesn’t feel too repetitive. At most he might do an occasional callback to something he said in a previous show, to set the scene for a new joke he’s about to make.

So, for me, there’s a good variety of funny material in each of his gigs, and there’s a nice collection of extras on his DVDs as well. Hence I thought I would do a review of all his shows, and I hope you enjoy reading about them.

Continue reading “Ricky Gervais – Stand-Up DVD & Netflix Reviews”