-Our first guest tonight
is an Emmy Award-winning comedian and actor
you know from shows such as "The Office," "Extras,"
and "After Life." His latest comedy special,
"Supernature," begins streaming
on Netflix May 24th. Let's take a look. -People quiz me on Twitter when
they find out I'm an atheist. They go, "Well, you don't
believe in God at all?" I go, "No."
"Do you pray?" I go, "No." They go, "Why don't you pray
just in case there's a God?" And I say, "Why don't you put
garlic over your door just in case
there's a Dracula," right? I've got no problem
with praying, you know? I know loads of nice Christians
and Muslims and Jews. And if one of my family is
very ill, they always say, "Oh, I'll pray for them." And I always say,
"Oh, thanks very much," 'cause it's a nice gesture. If they said, "Oh, we also
canceled the chemotherapy," I go, "Don't do that. Don't do that." Try -- Fill your boots, son,
but let's -- Let's do the praying and
the chemotherapy, shall we? 'Cause that's the same result as
just the chemotherapy. So let's definitely keep
that one, shall we? -Please welcome back to the show
our good friend Ricky Gervais. [ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪ Welcome back, Ricky.
-Oh! -It's always lovely
to have you here in person, though you did seem to enjoy -- We spoke
a few times via Zoom, and I always thought
it was such a coincidence that you found your way right in
front of all your awards. -They're not all of them. [ Laughter ] Well, I didn't set them up. I just -- that was my --
-Oh, I don't know. These Emmys look very set up. I mean, they're
very complimentary. -That's not even all the BAFTAs.
There's three more there. -So seven BAFTAs.
Did you ever win a Golden Globe? I mean, obviously,
you hosted it to great regard. -I won two. They're over this side
of the room. -So you can see them. When you Zoom with me,
you can see the Globes. So, we talked a little backstage
about how, you know, the pandemic, in a way,
allowed us to be a little lazier with ourselves. Did you take to the laziness? -Yeah, it suited me
just being at home, no one coming to the house. I didn't even have to lie
to get out of stuff. -Yeah.
-Do you know what I mean? Like Christenings
and funerals and weddings. They were all canceled.
-Yeah. -So it was like -- I was like, "Oh, and I was looking forward
to that," you know. But it has ruined me.
Now I don't want to do anything. -Yeah. -I don't want do
anything ever again. -But that's why I'm so impressed
that you not only have this special,
you're out on the road again. But "Supernature" --
why did you name it this? -The title comes from
two reasons, really. One, I sort of debunk
the supernatural. I don't believe in
anything supernatural. So I go through all that. And, also, I say that nature is
super enough, you know? I mean, we don't need -- I don't need unicorns
and fairies and that. And I say, we've got
the octopus, you know, things like that, and the duckbill platypus
is a monotreme, right? When people first discovered
the duckbill platypus, they thought
it was a hoax, right? They did. And that's true.
And it produces eggs and milk. It could make its own custard.
-Yeah. -It doesn't, but it could. -It could. -So, I go into why love nature
and why I hate people. That's the --
that's the main theme. Yeah. -You've always been not just
an atheist, but sort of proudly an atheist. That clip is
a wonderful example of that. And as the clip sort of details,
people continue to come at you for this
and think that you're on the wrong side
of this position. -Well, I mean, Twitter is -- I mean, yeah, there's
a billion people on Twitter. And, you know, it's like
looking at every toilet wall in the world at once, isn't it? You mustn't take it serious. So with all those
people on there, you know someone's
gonna say something stupid. I mean, I look for them. I mean, I like -- That's the good thing about
Twitter, I guess. Like 20 years ago,
an observational comic would actually
have to go to, like, homes and prisons to
meet the people that talk to you on Twitter. So I can do it from the safety
of my Hampstead mansion. I can speak to the worst people in the world
and formulate comedy. -So, yeah --
So your observational comedy comes from a place of great
comfort for you. You've managed to
observe through your phone. -Exactly. Yeah, exactly.
-Yeah. -I can talk to the
maddest people on the Earth. -You talk about health. We were talking backstage. For all intents and purposes,
you feel like people our age are living on borrowed time. -I think we're not meant to
live this long. -Yeah.
-I'm 60. It's not natural. When we were hunter-gatherers,
we'd make it to about -- I don't know --
25, if we were lucky. Then we'd get a scratch -- dead.
You know what I mean? But now we're just kept alive. They replace everything. You know, they can't do the
head transplant yet, but that, you know -- -Would you --
-I would, yeah. Because you are --
I only care about that. I don't really care about
this rubbish. -Okay. -This just gets me around
to do stuff. So one day, someone will have
their, like, head crushed, but their body
would be alright. I'll have my body crushed
or it will just fall apart. They'd keep me alive
in a jar or something. And then I'd pay a lot of money.
-Yeah. -Right?
I've got a bit of cash now. I'll go, "I'll have that body," and then I'd put my head
on the new body. Statistically,
I will get a bigger penis. [ Laughter ] So... It won't be mine.
-Yeah. How long do you think --
Be honest. How long it would take --
-Sorry, sorry. [ Laughter ] -Let me tell you,
that's wishful thinking. I don't know who you think's
getting crushed by a bus. But how long
do you think it would take to get used to
a different penis? -I wouldn't be comfortable.
-Yeah. -Although,
it wouldn't be my hand either. -That's a good point. That would be the trickier part. -So, I'd just close my eyes. I'd just get
all the feelings, right? [ Laughter ] -So, I think
we've worked through that. I think if that --
Hopefully, if that's the last -- If that's the last hurdle for
science, I hope they watch this. -Exactly, yeah. -You go out of your way to
explain irony in your special. I mean, I feel like the British
are very proud about the fact that they, I feel like,
have the best sense of irony. Did you feel the need to
explain irony for Americans specifically
or just comedy audiences? -No, no, no, no.
And I sort of do it as a joke. That is the joke
that I'm explaining, and I still get it wrong. So I explain -- I say --
I come out and I say something awful and then I say,
"That was irony. There's gonna be a bit of that
throughout the show. See if you can spot it." That's when I say something I don't really mean
for comic effect, and you, as an audience,
you laugh at the "wrong thing," 'cause you don't know
what the right thing is. So I sort of do it as
a joke to challenge them, and then I carry on
saying terrible things and hopefully they get it. -And it does seem fun,
because in a weird way, like -- Not a weird way,
very on purpose. But you then involve them
in what the game is gonna be. -And I challenge them. -Yeah, and you keep catching
them off guard with it. -Exactly. And I've challenged
them to be offended or I told them it's a joke. And I think that's the big thing
now that people are, you know -- It's always been the same. People have always been offended
by comedians or things they say, but we didn't used to
hear about it. You know,
we didn't used to have Twitter. To write a complaint
20 years ago, you'd go, "Dear BBC, I'm -- Oh, I can't
be bothered," you know? But now
someone tweets something, and the papers pick that up and
go, "People are furious. ZX143 said this." And it becomes a thing,
and it isn't. You should ignore it.
You should just ignore it. -I think that that is
very good advice, because I do think --
Especially when there's craft to the joke --
Like, for example, look at -- Because you do in
the beginning of the special. You set up like, "Here's the
game," to some degree, and each time,
there's never any laziness to the joke,
because the joke is always -- There's a construction to it. -And I explain that,
you know, a joke isn't a window to the comedian's
true soul, you know? It's a joke.
I'll pretend to take a view. I'll pretend to be right wing. I'll pretend to be left wing.
I'll pretend to be clever. I'll pretend to be stupid. Whatever makes the joke -- You
know, it's all about the joke. And I think people
often get offended when they mistake the subject of
a joke with the actual target. And if you look at it, you know,
often, the target's me. It's my stupidity or me getting
something wrong or -- And I think that that's
where it comes from, because -- And I deal in
taboo subjects on purpose, because I want to
take the audience to a place
it hasn't been before. But I also think
they're good to crunch. They're good --
There is a tension, and it's always okay in the end. And I think that's what -- They're only taboo because
people want them to be taboo. People say,
"Oh, that's controversial" 'cause they want you to shut up. That's why they say -- You know,
they want you to shut up. So don't shut up. -Your next special
is called "Armageddon." -Yes. -And, now, that seems very
in-line with the way you think. -Yeah. Yeah. -What are you
setting out to do here? -Again, it's me pondering how
the humanity will be wiped out. And I can't wait. -Yeah. -Do you think
you'll be here to see it? -I'll see some of it. I'll see the beginning of it.
-Yeah. -You know, but I think --
You know, I think young people now will have a very different
middle age to me. And it's my fault,
my generation, and the generation of
all the Boomers with the fossil fuels
and the global warming. So some of these 29 --
40 years' time, they will be in their apartments
with masks on, crying, like they do now over jokes. -Now, I will say this. I'm very happy to hear,
because we were talking about health,
and you are -- Because you're not giving up. You're out. You're walking. You're very --
You try to be ambulatory a good amount of the time. -This is how you talk about
someone in a chair in a home. -Give a round --
Look, Ricky went for a walk. -Yeah.
[ Laughs ] [ Cheers and applause ] Listen, I don't care. I'll -- As I say,
as long as I can sort of still talk and drink, I don't
care if I end up in a bucket. -Yeah. -I'm just being
pushed around in a bucket of my own urine and feces
by a nurse, with a drip and that -- -What if they say,
"We have bad news. We don't have a body for you. We have a lovely bucket." -That'd be fine.
-Just your head in a bucket. -And then, when it gets too
much, I'll just take the pill. Hopefully, that's what
I'm looking forward to. -I'll just go into CVS and go,
"Give me the pill," and they go, "Are you sure?" I'll go, "Of course I'm sure.
[Bleep] look at me." -They go, "Here. Here's one
and here's one for free." Hey, thanks for being here.
Congrats again on the special. -Cheers. Thank you.
-Ricky Gervais. "Supernature" begins streaming
on Netflix May 24th.
