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March 28, 2024, 06:07:11 PM

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Ricky Gervais: SuperNature

Started by Blue Jam, July 29, 2018, 02:09:02 PM

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Stigdu

Funnily enough, I don't like strawberries so I guess I really am a bit of a c-word!

Obviously, I don't condone bashing of transgender people - does that need to be said? - but yes, I can find jokes about transgender people, black people, gays, whites, whoever, funny. I don't just automatically switch off when a 'taboo' joke rears its head and have an inner dialogue where I tell myself "I'm not going to find this funny because it's about a dwarf".

I've heard funny jokes about Liverpudlians and rubbish ones too. Depends on the journey to the punchline and, more often than not, the punchline itself.

P.S. I thought 'Derek' wasn't very good/funny. Do I get to join the clique now?

Dr Rock

Hey Stacy, what's your opinion on ol' Jermy Crobbins?

Stigdu

Quote from: Dr Rock on May 28, 2022, 05:54:35 PMHey Stacy, what's your opinion on ol' Jermy Crobbins?

I don't know who that is.

Blue Jam

Quote from: Stigdu on May 28, 2022, 04:47:25 PMI found it very funny. Yes, the trans jokes. Yes, him referring to himself as being in a 1% minority because he's rich.

Reading this thread, I must be in an absolutely minority as most of you seem to hate him.

And apparently, for finding him funny, I must be a moron and a cunt according to some of you. So that's nice.

I can't tell if you're trolling or not here, but to give you the benefit of the doubt: Why do you care if other people find Gervais funny or not? Why do you feel the need to defend someone who, as he likes to remind us, is a multi-millionaire and would be doing just fine whether people defended him or not?

Gervais fans remind me of Radiohead fans in the way they get very bothered about other people not liking the thing they like. So what? Who cares, honestly? A lot of people hate stuff I like/d, from Better Call Saul to the Super Furry Animals to Oasis to The X Factor, and I don't give a fuck. If Gervais was universally loved and accepted would that be any better? Wouldn't that feel like being a Michael McIntyre fan?

I can't speak for everyone but I personally don't think Gervais fans are morons or c*nts, and I don't think anyone's implying that. I just don't understand why people get so precious about these things- Ricky's a millionaire, relax, he'll be fine.

Ferris

Who switches off when they hear a joke about a "taboo"?

I think you're trying to strawman everyone in the thread as prudish woke killjoys - considering the forum is based around a shared enjoyment of Chris Morris (who was doing more outré material decades ago) I reckon that's off the mark.

My point was if you tell a load of lazy bigoted jokes recycled from the local golf club, you don't get to tell them, say "not really", then wink and tell some more.

If your defence is "it's ok because he said 'not really' and I laughed at the punchline" then you are on pretty dodgy ground because that could justify a lot of bad-faith material. You can laugh if you like, but on niche comedy forums across the land people will point out that it's probably not great.

Stigdu

Quote from: Blue Jam on May 28, 2022, 05:59:09 PMI can't tell if you're trolling or not here, but to give you the benefit of the doubt: Why do you care if other people find Gervais funny or not? Why do you feel the need to defend someone who, as he likes to remind us, is a multi-millionaire and would be doing just fine whether people defended him or not?

Gervais fans remind me of Radiohead fans in the way they get very bothered about other people not liking the thing they like. So what? Who cares, honestly? A lot of people hate stuff I like/d, from Better Call Saul to the Super Furry Animals to Oasis to The X Factor, and I don't give a fuck. If Gervais was universally loved and accepted would that be any better? Wouldn't that feel like being a Michael McIntyre fan?

I can't speak for everyone but I personally don't think Gervais fans are morons or c*nts, and I don't think anyone's implying that. I just don't understand why people get so precious about these things- Ricky's a millionaire, relax, he'll be fine.

To be honest I don't. I'll leave it there. Cheers

Stigdu

Quote from: Ferris on May 28, 2022, 06:01:31 PMWho switches off when they hear a joke about a "taboo"?

I think you're trying to strawman everyone in the thread as prudish woke killjoys - considering the forum is based around a shared enjoyment of Chris Morris (who was doing more outré material decades ago) I reckon that's off the mark.

My point was if you tell a load of lazy bigoted jokes recycled from the local golf club, you don't get to tell them, say "not really", then wink and tell some more.

If your defence is "it's ok because he said 'not really' and I laughed at the punchline" then you are on pretty dodgy ground because that could justify a lot of bad-faith material. You can laugh if you like, but on niche comedy forums across the land people will point out that it's probably not great.

I guess the last thing I can add is that hearing him (or anyone) say "a woman with a cock" brings out my inner child and makes me chuckle regardless if there's a joke attached. Yes, I'm easily pleased.

Blue Jam

I dunno, I think Gervais's trans stuff is just a bit angry and mean-spirited, while something like Goldie Lookin' Chain's Your Mother's Got A Penis is just amusingly childish.

I saw Alan Partridge's Stratagem this week. It had jokes about non-binary peeps, the difference was Steve Coogan allowed himself to be the butt of those jokes, and they were funny.

Quote from: Martin Van Buren Stan on May 28, 2022, 05:49:07 PMA lot of abuse victims would have said (and did say) the same thing about Brass Eye. Not defending Gervais but I don't think you can dismiss comedy because a vulnerable person says something like that.

My main fault with the special was

Quote from: Better Midlands on May 24, 2022, 11:03:03 AMYeah, comedically it's pretty lazy.

I totally agree with you about the bolded text and BE, it was a pretty niche show though - Supernature is on the front page of Netflix.

There's gonna be a load of schoolkids having "lose the cock" shouted at them for the next few months.

Ferris

Ok, well don't be surprised if other people are less easily pleased and more willing to talk about why that is.

It'd be a fucking boring forum if everyone said "I like it when the man said cock! I laughed!!" and that was as far as the discussion went.

Blue Jam

Quote from: Ferris on May 28, 2022, 06:12:14 PMOk, well don't be surprised if other people are less easily pleased and more willing to talk about why that is.

It'd be a fucking boring forum if everyone said "I like it when the man said cock! I laughed!!" and that was as far as the discussion went.

"Barney's movie had heart, but Football in the Groin had a football in the groin"

Replies From View

Quote from: ajsmith2 on May 28, 2022, 04:39:21 PMThis bit:

'When I say something I don't really mean for comedic effect, and you, as an audience, you laugh at the wrong thing 'cause you know what the right thing is. It's a way of satirizing attitudes."

That says it all about Gervais's hopelessly out of touch stance. It's the old 90s/00s 'all the battles have been fought, everyone's basically cool now, and we have the luxury to say anything we like with 0 consequences' attitude. It's beyond bold/naive of him (assuming he's doing it in good faith of course) to assume that all of his audience 'know what the right thing is'.

And the way that his audience is responding to particular remarks and jokes is quite telling, in this regard.  Very specific releases of whooping and joy reserved for the jokes about trans-women.

Not so much "Haha aren't we progressive for understanding all the arguments and being able to laugh at remarks that satirise stupid viewpoints," as "At last someone is speaking the truth."

g0m

Quote from: Stigdu on May 28, 2022, 06:05:43 PMI guess the last thing I can add is that hearing him (or anyone) say "a woman with a cock" brings out my inner child and makes me chuckle regardless if there's a joke attached. Yes, I'm easily pleased.

i mean i do hope you won't be offended by this but that seems like the kind of thing that's a lot easier to laugh at if trans issues are a kind of invisible abstraction and not something that's material to your day to day life

Replies From View

How much did Netflix pay for this abomination of a show?  It's incredible what Gervais has managed to wangle off the back of about eight good episodes of The Office.

Replies From View

Quote from: g0m on May 28, 2022, 07:34:25 PMi mean i do hope you won't be offended by this but that seems like the kind of thing that's a lot easier to laugh at if trans issues are a kind of invisible abstraction and not something that's material to your day to day life

He's probably never been enjoying a bit of femdom action on pornhub and then realised "Fuckin 'ell she's got a cock.  This has got way out of hand."

If you've not been through that it's so easy to laugh at it.  For everyone else, it's a CRYING GAME *smirking Gervais waddle back to his notes podium*



THREE MILLION POUNDS FOR THAT SATIRE PLEASE, NETFLIX, THERE'S A GOOD CHAP.

Martin Van Buren Stan

Quote from: Replies From View on May 28, 2022, 07:35:02 PMHow much did Netflix pay for this abomination of a show?  It's incredible what Gervais has managed to wangle off the back of about eight good episodes of The Office.

I heard he got 20 million dollars for his first two specials. Each.

willbo

remember that joke he did about wanking with an insect trapped on the end of his knob. I remember him doing that on 11 o'clock show, his chat show and his first stand up. And presumably it wasn't even his "material", his mate at school came up with it.

BritishHobo

That mate from his primary school deserves some sort of co-writer credit for Gervais' whole career.

Cuellar

Quote from: Stigdu on May 28, 2022, 05:52:54 PMP.S. I thought 'Derek' wasn't very good/funny. Do I get to join the clique now?

No, don't you get it?! Derek might be the funniest thing Gervais has ever done.

Catalogue Trousers


checkoutgirl

Quote from: Stigdu on May 28, 2022, 05:27:07 PMMy name's Stacy.

Hi Stacy. I think it's much easier to explain why something isn't funny than explain why it is. Hopefully as someone who finds Supernature funny you'll stick around so we can discuss it.

A lot of us are lapsed Ricky fans who enjoyed and still enjoy the XFM, Karl and Office stuff. And there's nobody more critical than a fan of the early good stuff who's disappointed in the later lazy, less funny stuff.

If you bear that in mind the Gervais threads on this site will make a bit more sense.

Regarding your earlier comment about strawberries, that's not giving us much to be going on with at this stage of the status debate.

What the fuck am I on about?

Replies From View

Quote from: Martin Van Buren Stan on May 28, 2022, 07:45:25 PMI heard he got 20 million dollars for his first two specials. Each.

For fuck's sake.  This actually makes me deeply angry.

phes

Quote from: Stigdu on May 28, 2022, 05:52:54 PMI don't just automatically switch off when a 'taboo' joke rears its head and have an inner dialogue where I tell myself "I'm not going to find this funny because it's about a dwarf"

I'm not sure that anyone here automatically switched off. Most people seem to be engaging with the content and for me the problem is is that there weren't really any jokes to speak of, just straight up pointing and laughing nastiness.

checkoutgirl

Quote from: Martin Van Buren Stan on May 28, 2022, 07:45:25 PMI heard he got 20 million dollars for his first two specials. Each.

Money for old rope. It can take years and years to hone a decent hour. Ricky's just throwing it together in a few weeks and putting in some filler by reading Twitter. Nice little scam going there.

Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse

Quote from: Martin Van Buren Stan on May 28, 2022, 05:49:07 PMA lot of abuse victims would have said (and did say) the same thing about Brass Eye. Not defending Gervais but I don't think you can dismiss comedy because a vulnerable person says something like that.
That's fair. Thing is, context matters, and the context in the UK at the moment is that virtually all the tabloids, most of the broadsheets and even the BBC are pushing transphobic, culture war bullshit. It would be one thing if, as Contrapoints notes in one video, trans people had so many rights it was okay to make fun of them. Then Ricky Gervais would be an edgelord off in the distance. But trans people are still hugely discriminated against, and as a result Gervais is just reinforcing the misinformation put out by allegedly trustworthy media outlets.

RicoMNKN

Quote from: Stigdu on May 28, 2022, 05:52:54 PMObviously, I don't condone bashing of transgender people - does that need to be said? - but yes, I can find jokes about transgender people, black people, gays, whites, whoever, funny. I don't just automatically switch off when a 'taboo' joke rears its head and have an inner dialogue where I tell myself "I'm not going to find this funny because it's about a dwarf".

Jimmy Carr could perhaps use the defence that it's just jokes.
I believe Gervais sees himself in the lineage of the truth-teller comedians, though.

What message do you think he was giving with the trans section?
He seems to just be re-enforcing prejudices with no attempt to challenge his audience, and he appears to believe what he said, so there is no irony involved.

The fact his audience do a Pavlovian laugh to the word "rape" at one point is fucking grim.

The Eddie Izzard line was a deep-dive Stewart Lee steal, though, I'll give him that.

somersetchris

Quote from: Replies From View on May 28, 2022, 07:33:25 PMAnd the way that his audience is responding to particular remarks and jokes is quite telling, in this regard.  Very specific releases of whooping and joy reserved for the jokes about trans-women.

Not so much "Haha aren't we progressive for understanding all the arguments and being able to laugh at remarks that satirise stupid viewpoints," as "At last someone is speaking the truth."

I mean look at the response people are getting on social media when they say they don't like it. They definitely aren't people who are 'laughing because they know what the right thing is'. These are people who follow terfs, GB News and various right wing trolls. I am sure Gervais knows this, but believes he can plausibly hide behind it.

Cold Meat Platter

#627
It reminds me of that bit in Frankie Boyle's Tramadol nights where he says the n-word and then goes
"Nah, but racism's stupid though..."

Just playground humour with a disingenuous out.

Oh and what hasn't developed yet in children joking in the playground?
No, empathy you sick fucks.

Replies From View

Quote from: Cold Meat Platter on May 28, 2022, 11:09:34 PMOh and what hasn't developed yet in children joking in the playground?
No, empathy you sick fucks.

They have empathy in other locations

Kankurette

Quote from: Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse on May 28, 2022, 10:02:57 PMThat's fair. Thing is, context matters, and the context in the UK at the moment is that virtually all the tabloids, most of the broadsheets and even the BBC are pushing transphobic, culture war bullshit. It would be one thing if, as Contrapoints notes in one video, trans people had so many rights it was okay to make fun of them. Then Ricky Gervais would be an edgelord off in the distance. But trans people are still hugely discriminated against, and as a result Gervais is just reinforcing the misinformation put out by allegedly trustworthy media outlets.
Yeah, Morris was attacking the press's attitude to paedophiles. Gervais is attacking a group of people who are already massively targeted by the press, and are a vulnerable minority to boot. I'm not saying Paedogeddon wasn't triggering for abuse survivors, I'm sure it was but it's apples and oranges.

I used to find trans jokes funny but grew out of it, and having friends who were trans and seeing the struggles trans people go through was part of why.