Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Ricky Gervais, Netflix, Film and TV, Social Media, Reddit, Celebrity, UK News
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Ricky Gervais, Netflix, Film and TV, Social Media, Reddit, Celebrity, UK News
Netflix viewers are flooding to social media to review Ricky Gervais' new special - and they're not amused.
While Gervais has produced one of the best and most moving series in recent times - Afterlife - it would appear fans fear his golden comedic streak is over in the wake of his latest Netflix special.
Prepare to turn away in fury if you're what Gervais would describe as too 'woke':
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Ricky Gervais: Armageddon sees the comedian take to the stage to give a filmed stand-up performance, dishing out 'controversial takes on political correctness and oversensitivity in a taboo-busting comedy special about the end of humanity,' according to the Netflix synopsis.
However, the TV special has proven too much even for Gervais fans, with some viewers taking to social media to review the show and one stating the comedian has 'lost the plot' alongside 'his touch on comedy'.
Taking to Reddit thread r/rickygervais, a user named Arta_Dratista reviews Gervais' other two Netflix specials - Supernature and Humanity - as being 'pretty decent'.
"I enjoyed his jokes and commentary, and thought he had a smart outlook on the world," they write.
Sadly, the user doesn't think Armageddon follows suit.
Their post continues: "Phew… The man just whines about censorship and wokeness (anyone who even uses the word woke unironically makes me cringe whether they’re aligned left or right).
"And then he goes on a tangent of jokes about pedophilia, rape, the holocaust, just to be edgy or something?
"Not sure what’s going through his head at this point.. and then he keeps saying that he doesn’t care what anyone thinks about his opinions, telling the audience and media to shut up basically."
The user concludes their review by branding Gervais a 'manchild' who speaks 'like a radicalised 13-year-old who spent too much time on Nazis forums'.
They resolve: "Anyways, that’s really all I have to say. I think he’s lost it at this point. What do you guys think?"
And many viewers seemingly think the same, others taking to X - formerly known as Twitter - to weigh in with their views.
One wrote: "Ten years ago, if you wanted to see a hideous English freak mine the sorrow of refugees to hearty laughter from an audience of toothless domestic abusers, you had to buy a Roy Chubby Brown DVD from a man in the pub. Now Netflix pays Ricky Gervais to do it on your Mum’s Smart TV."
However, some have stuck up for Gervais' special, another user arguing: "The satire is perfectly & lethally pitched & expertly delivered. And, of course, it’s absolutely f***ing hilarious."
Despite the lack of applause for his recent special, at the end of the day, all publicity is good publicity and proving this point exactly, Gervais has taken to X to reveal Armageddon is set to be his 'biggest special ever' if 'the first 24 hours is anything to go by'.
He adds: "This means Netflix have to pay me even more for my next one and I can give even more money to animals. It's a good system."
UNILAD has reached out to Ricky Gervais' representatives for comment.
Ricky Gervais Armageddon is currently available to watch on Netflix.