A couple of months ago I made a video about
Ricky Gervais and his new Humanity release
You should have seen it: it got quite good views
for one of my videos, that is.
Still should've got more burt never mind.
Anyway, I'll admit now it didn't take a lot
for me to say what I did in that video
the flame on my Ricky Gervais fanboy candle
had long since burned out
and I admit now I had quite a few pre-existing opinions
before I watched it
And my girlfriend, being one of the few people
comfortable not standing for my bullshit,
recently challenged me over my somewhat
dim views of Ricky Gervais
and I actually found it very hard to explain myself
and it occured to me afterwards that my main thing is I just fundamentally don't trust the man's motives
As I said in that video
I really enjoyed his first two stand-up DVDs
and could kinda relate rather well to the person
he was presenting himself as
He obviously had a big boost over The Office
but he never had tried stand-up before
so there was a kinda humbleness
behind his faux-arrogance
and this, at least to me, quite endeared me to him.
Well that and I was a sixth-former, therefore into
the mentality of just being as awful as possible.
And there was a long-ish gap
between his next two DVDs
Fame and Science
and within this gap he became more successful
than he already was
and, although there probably was an element
of me not wanting to like what's popular,
I definitely didn't enjoy these DVDs as much
There was nothing particularly objectionable
they just seemed not quite as good
but, as I said, that may have been me.
There was a bit in the second of these two DVDs
about the word 'Mong'
and he now feels 'mong' means idiot and
doesn't mean someone with Down's Syndrome.
Now I remember watching this and
feeling not completely comfortable
but also thinking "Ah well, it's stand-up. I see what you're trying to do. This bit isn't that good butlet's move on".
Now shortly after this he said the same thing on Twitter in what looked like a genuine statement of his beliefs
rather than a joke,
he just said that Mong now means idiot and doesn't mean someone with Learning Difficulties
or, more specifically, Down's Syndrome.
Now, I admit, this was the moment
it all came crashing down for me
and I started to re-evaluate who Gervais was
and who he was as a person
behind what I thought was a persona
and this made me go off him quite a bit.
Now I admit this put me off his subsequent work quite a bit - especially Derek
which I know some people see as a
touching and enlightening show
showing what it really can be like in a care-home.
But I just see it as an immature man pulling spaz-faces.
And fastforward to the recent routine
about Caitlyn Jenner
I know some people who genuinely trust Gervais
who see that as a routine about a man confessing his insecurities and unfamiliarities with trans issues
and saying he's worried about dead-naming someone.
However I dmit I saw that routine as a crass attempt to find a way to get away with dead-naming a trans-person
after he's been told he shouldn't, just to wind them up.
Now, I'm not in a place to admit I'm wrong
A, because I'm arrogant
B, because I genuinely still don't think I am.
But it did occur to me, that if something happens to a comedian that makes people lose trust in what they say
what can they do to get it back - if anything?
Like this is why I've got absolutely no interest
in Louis CK now
I used to love the man but his whole persona was built on the trust
'Yes, I'm sharing with you some of the most horrible thoughts I have
but it's OK, you can laugh because
you know I wouldn't do them"
but then it turned out that wasn't true
he did do those things
So I now feel it's impossible to enjoy his comedy
and I find it weird that in his comeback gighe stuck to more-or-less the same kinda stuff he used to do
However unlike Louis CK, Ricky Gervais didn't commit a crime nor abuse a series of people
he just tried to say a word wasn't offensive
that clearly was.
He fucked up basically.
So yeah the 'mong' thing has tarnished Gervais for me
and probably always will
So if you are a comedian who walks on the tightrope of being sincere and being just offensive
what happens the times you fall off and fall
completely into the 'Just Offensive' side?
I don't know, perhaps you can't just get back on the tightrope and need to change some things
Or at least make a public and sincere apology
and acknowledgement that you fucked up
Or maybe it's fine just to carry on regardless
But in those instances you're probably gonna get a couple of people like me
who find it hard not to make it cast
a big shadow over your work
But what do I know?
I'm clearly a snowflake, so who cares?!
