For those who weren't aware that Ricky Gervais released a new special on Christmas Day, he was happy to point out:th December is the day Armageddon was released on Netflix. ”
We have come to expect such cheerful profanity from Mr. Gervais. Some viewers get tired of it. As Christians, we say we pray for him.
Let's hope he remains resolute in his fight against comedy's greatest enemy: people who don't get the joke.
“Armageddon” may not be new territory for Gervais, but so what? Novelty for the sake of novelty is how you get “Nanette.” If you're looking for a sporty jaunt through the tumultuous zeitgeist, Gervais offers more than enough.
“Armageddon” also answers the question, “What would it sound like if nihilist philosopher Emir Cholin tried to stand up?” There's nothing here that approaches the existential despair that watching John Oliver evokes, but there are lines like, “It's never worth killing yourself because it's always too late” (“Natural Trouble”). Fans of classic Ciorin Zinger will notice. You can have a lot of fun.
I give Armageddon an 8 out of 10. Based on the final monologue alone and Gervais' unerring ability to enrage the ever-fussy gargoyles watching over our entertainment choices, I'm tempted to rate this one even higher.
who weAt the end of the day, have fun, laugh, Read this articleWhile Third World slaves and First World aristocrats are suffering and crying under the weight of free market climate change?
My purpose here is not to protect Mr. Gervais is a vegan, so he has no defense. Rather, it's to rebel against the drooling scoldings who believe that enjoying his comedy is bigoted debauchery.
Thankfully, Gervais loves comedic duplicity. That may be the hallmark of his entire career.
This is what a comedian should be like… Must It becomes extremely slippery. The moment they can predict what their audience will say, they have failed.
Gervais is the master of this secret dance. His pace, the way he speaks. You never know when he’s going to pop out to the side.
In “Armageddon,” he fully embraces this persona, a clown who smiles and says “oops.” Because a smile confuses disaster.
Gervais criticizes immigrants, science deniers, those who accuse cultural appropriation, those who tear down statues, and the zealots who criticize racial theory. He spares “Time Person of the Year” Taylor Swift. The child answered, “I'm not hungry.'' ”
Gervais has continued to “knock out” people in this way for nearly 20 years. His 2004 feature “Live 2: Politics” opens with a sketch in which he gleefully beats up a disabled Egyptian man, forces him to wear a fez, calls him gay, and steals his wheelchair.
Laugh-averse activists took the bait then, and are taking the bait now. So why shouldn't Gervais give them what they want? He begins “Armageddon” by declaring that in light of the backlash to last year's “SuperNature,” he has “decided to wake up.”
A few minutes later, freshly woken up, Gervais imagines a conversation he's having with the Make-A-Wish kid he calls “bald” and asks, “Why don't you want to get better? What, dude?” Are you retarded?” Good? “
From the premise to the punchline, it's too easy, but who cares? Or rather, actual Just kidding, the usual hair trigger activists are I was demanded to That you care. As expected, they were outraged by Mr. Gervais' use of his R-word. Change.org petition Have it cut from the special.
But the true outcome of “Armageddon” is that even atheist vegans can Competent Let's start with humor. Amen.
slippery slope
Midway through “Armageddon,” Gervais seems ready to break character for politics. “Now that you're awake, you should do something political,” he says. “But I don't like it when comedians just spout their ideas.” He espouses political views and relies on the audience agreeing with him and getting applause. I think that would be a loss in terms of comedy. ”
The audience agrees, but does not applaud.
Furthermore, he added: “I want everyone to like my jokes, no matter their political persuasion. There should be no political aspect to the jokes. Like you, I'm political in my personal life. I sometimes get angry at the inequalities in our society.”
The audience becomes even quieter. Is Ricky Gervais about to flash his voting card?
“There are 250,000 homeless people in the UK. I wish there were no homeless people now, because they are so bad.”
Laughter.
He then cracks a joke about child slave laborers who do shoddy labor. “His owner should sit him down and say, 'If Ricky Gervais orders this and you complain, I'm going to rape your mum again.'”
When the audience flinched at the “too much,” Gervais raised his hand earnestly like a surgeon who had cut the wrong tendon, then limped to the podium for a drink and announced: ”
On a serious note…
Gervais' argument is that simply Being aggressive is itself offensive.
It negates the intricate, mischievous play of Gervais's style, his technique of using seemingly haphazard juxtapositions to force us to acknowledge uncomfortable truths.
If this still doesn't make sense to you, refer to Freud, who defined joking as “the ability to find similarities, or hidden parallels, between different things.”
From The Office and Curve Your Enthusiasm to Foot Fury, Gervais' characters have a unique character that inspires the combination of joy and terror that only the best Klein comedies can bring. have talent.
While watching a successful and confident Gervais work, the enthusiastic crowd is far removed from the excruciating spectacle of David Brent's “cool entertainer” persona, but “Armageddon” has a devastating There are enough risks that embarrassment always looms. Gervais' brand of infinitely regressive meta-comedy is non-stop.
“Armageddon” jokes about African babies with AIDS. Critics reduced the joke to its offensive appearance and premise.
In reality, this is a joke about the possibility of a joke, in which the fictional subjects not only make their own joke; Participation It's a joke, but it's also the limit of their fiction. reality.
This hoax aims to refute the absurd notion that offensive jokes cause alarm.
activist class
One critic said, “Rather than being a great satire, “Armageddon'' is just another lazy comedy that exploits the majority's fear of the minority's voice.''
Are you afraid of minority voices? What does that mean? Who are these minority voices? Why are the majority afraid of them? teeth Are the majority afraid of them? What are the consequences of this fear?
The Guardian suggested that Armageddon would have been a success if Gervais had been “curious and enthusiastic rather than macho and smug.”
Are you “curious and enthusiastic”? The Ted Talk is next door, sir. Only someone who grew up in a lesbian separatist commune could find Gervais, with his pudgy, hyena-like grin, arrogantly “macho.'' As for “self-righteousness”, yes. And Jerry Seinfeld certainly makes a lot of petty observations.
This review ends in exemplary “I'm not mad, I'm actually laughing” fashion. [jokes]? ”
Animals of the world, unite!
But the special's most powerful, and most revealing moment yet, comes after Gervais's final joke, an hour of ruthless evisceration that invites Armageddon to cleanse the earth along with fire. I will conclude.
Instead of trotting off the stage, he lingers. He sincerely thanked the audience.
This is his clever way of reminding us that Ricky Gervais the comedian is not the same as Ricky Gervais the human being.
Comedian Gervais makes jokes about dead dogs and dying goldfish. Man Gervais revealed that a significant portion of the night's ticket sales will be donated to animal charities.
His digressions about climate change suddenly made sense. The end of the world that Gervais evokes is bigger than us. It would mark the end of billions of years of evolution for all life on Earth.
Seen from this larger perspective, the differences of opinion, race, and religion that divide us no longer seem so profound. Here we get a glimpse of the reason for Gervais' equal opportunity offender routine. It is better to keep our grievances in the light than let them fester and mutate into the dark hysteria that contaminates much of modern society.
Our wisest fools may be on to something here. Maybe one day he'll give God quite a shock.
