'Like, the worst thing you can say today, get you cancelled on Twitter, death threats, the worst thing you can say today is, 'Women don't have penises', right? Gervais later tells his audience: 'You can't predict what will be offensive in the future. You don't know who the dominant mob will be. Turning his sights onto a new branch of 'woke comedy', in which he says comics are required to sign a waiver before their sets promising not to say anything contentious, he jokes he would rather watch American stand-up comedian Louis CK masturbate. Mocking up a debate over gendered toilets, Gervais starts the joke: 'They are ladies, look at their pronouns. Not enough to apologise and move on', he jokes. 'Can't mention him anymore, he's cancelled. Turning his attention to a new brand of 'woke comedy', in which he says comics are required to sign a waiver before their sets promising not to say anything contentious, he told the audience he would rather watch American stand-up comedian Louis CK masturbate. It's all about feelings, and feelings are personal.' No, you've got to say you found it offensive. 'I hate when people say: 'That joke was offensive'. 'When someone says to me: 'Oh they're not funny', even if I agree with them I say 'well you can't say that, you don't find them funny'. Gervais later offers a strong rebuttal to cancel culture, reminding audiences that their opinion on a comedian's work isn't necessarily the prevailing thought of everyone. He at one point references his transition to becoming 'Vicky Gervais'. He later moves onto quips after transgender women and pronouns, drawing huge laughs from the crowd when he mocks up a debate over gendered toilets. Just minutes into his opening monologue, Gervais yawns to the crowd as he talks about 'those old-fashioned women, you know, with wombs'. Gervais' new special has received the backing of viewers for broaching controversial topics including the trans debate, racism, identity politics and Hitler - weeks after Netflix was accused of 'being infected by the woke mind virus' by Elon Musk.
And I think we second guess the audience too much.' He added: 'I think that's what comedy is for - getting us over taboo subjects so they're not scary anymore. 'Most offence comes from when people mistake the subject of a joke with the actual target.' He said: 'I think that's what comedy is for, really - to get us through stuff, and I deal in taboo subjects because I want to take the audience to a place it hasn't been before, even for a split second. He again retorted against woke critics last night as he told The One Show that comedy should be used as a tool for 'getting us over taboo subjects so they're not scary any more'. I've always confronted dogma that oppresses people and limits freedom of expression.' In response, Gervais told The Spectator: 'My target wasn't trans folk, but trans activist ideology. In 'SuperNature', Gervais wastes no time singling out the 'virtue-signalling' and 'dominant mobs' who are quick to criticise just to 'bring people down to raise their own status'.īut his jokes were later described as 'dangerous' material by an American LGBT rights group, while Stonewall accused him of 'making fun of trans people'. The comic, 60, who has been embroiled in controversy throughout his career, kicks off the show with a warning about irony as he describes the concept of comedy to the audience as 'basically a bloke talking', before purposely failing to recall any 'funny female comedians'. Comedian Ricky Gervais has hit back at critics after Twitter's 'woke brigade' turned on the comic for mocking cancel culture with jokes about transgender people, Adolf Hitler and AIDS in his new 'SuperNature' Netflix special.