Ricky Gervais Wages ‘Armageddon’ Against Stupidity

‘100 Funniest Comedy Albums’ Book Excerpt

Frank Mastropolo

Netflix

Before the Christmas Day 2023 release of his Netflix special Armageddon, Ricky Gervais posted this tweet as a warning:

“In this show, I talk about sex, death, pedophilia, race, religion, disability, free speech, global warming, the holocaust, and Elton John. If you don’t approve of jokes about any of these things, then please don’t watch. You won’t enjoy it, and you’ll get upset.”

So this show is called Armageddon, and it’s all about how I think humanity might end, ’cause there’s a long list of possibilities. It could be anything from global warming, the rise of the pandemic, nuclear war, our own stupidity, basically.

’Cause we are getting more stupid as a species. No doubt about that. You can now do a university degree course in Taylor Swift. How fucking low, academically, can you go?

There’s an institute in London called the School of Flower Arranging. I went past it. I couldn’t believe it. I looked in, and there’s people having lectures. Flower arranging! My mum used to pick flowers every day from the garden, cut flowers, put ’em in vases around the house. At no point did anyone come around and go, “What unqualified cunt did these?”

Armageddon was controversial before its release when Gervais posted a routine from the show’s trailer.

On a serious note, I’ve been doing a lot of video messages recently for terminally-ill children. Only if they request it, obviously. I don’t burst into hospitals and go, “Wake up, Baldy. Look, me twerking on TikTok. Look.”

It’s through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. They’re great, and they give these dying kids their one wish. And if it’s me, I always say yes, and I always start the video the same way. I go, “Why didn’t you wish to get better? What, you fucking retarded as well?”

These are all jokes, okay? In fact, I don’t even use that word in real life, the r-word. “You just used it. Rick.” “Yeah, in a joke. That’s not real life, is it? I’m playing a role.” “You sounded pretty convincing.” “Yeah, ’cause I’m good.”

I’m good, and that’s why I do things well. Imagine if I came out and did things not very well, so you knew I was joking. That’d be fucking retarded.

Thousands of people signed a Change.org petition demanding Netflix remove the routine from the special, which the streaming service refused.

“I can play to a million people, I won’t get a complaint,” Gervais told BBC Radio 5.

“As soon as it goes on Netflix or as soon as someone writes up a joke that says this is offensive, people go, ‘Oh, that’s offensive.’ They haven’t even heard the joke. They weren’t there. Ignore them. They don’t count. They have no effect on me. They don’t count. They’re hecklers.

“They’re allowed to hate it. They’re allowed to not come to the show, but it’s not going to stop me doing what I love, and I’m not going to stop it at the expense of all the other people who love it. No one has to watch this.”

Armageddon was nominated by the Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album.

“Some people think that a joke is a window to the comedian’s true soul,” Gervais said. “It’s just not true. It’s a joke.”

Frank Mastropolo is the author of 100 Funniest Comedy Albums, part of the Greatest Performances series. For more on our latest projects, visit Edgar Street Books.