#45

He’ll joke about anything, mainly to get headlines. His standup isn’t very funny, it’s mostly based on shock value. They have to have known the risk (or be aware enough of his work to take it on the chin).

I’m not blaming the parents, that sounds harsh, I just think it’s a bit much to make so much of it. I can understand them being upset, but complaining is too much.

I appear to be in the minority thinking this.

#46

https://mobile.twitter.com/rickygervais?ref_src=twsrc^tfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.sky.com%2Fstory%2Fricky-gervais-defends-dead-babies-joke-at-show-in-belfast-10818401

Well, he seems determined to dig this hole.

#48

Without knowing the joke and the context it’s hard to criticize the material however it’s easy to criticize the response.

Straight to his seemingly default position of defensiveness and views on freedom of speech rather than perhaps thinking about how the material itself could be improved or delivered in a different way. Perhaps he’s doing that but I doubt it.

#49

I think they should have walked out and probably not spoken to the press. Speaking to the beraved parents charity to give a warning seems perfectly reasonable though. And yeah he’s just not very funny is he.

#50

From what I can tell he’s not actually being censored or even told he can’t do the joke right?

It seems he told a joke about a sensitive subject, some people were upset and left and then messaged a charity who then sent out a pretty neutral content warning to their followers who presumably have also been affected by it. Then he took to twitter. It all seems fairly reasonable and I don’t know why Gervais is being so defensive.

#51

Because he makes a living (a fucking fortune) off being offensive and making headlines. More fuel for the fire.

2 Likes
#52

hang on a sec

this joke was at a Belfast show? Is there a political/sectarian-baiting element to this dead baby routine …as in NI abortion laws/Tuam babies ?
hmmm

#53

No, I’ll quote someone from reddit who was at the gig:

Using the word “target” makes it sound like parents of dead babies were the butt of his joke. They weren’t. The joke was about hes own admission that he would find looking after a new born baby difficult and that it would ultimately result in the baby dying. True it was a dark subject but as he said himself joking about a subject is different from mocking it. It wasnt like he said, “parents of dead babies, sucked in you must be bad at being a parent”.

For me personally, it was one of the few funny bits in an otherwise fairly mediocre show.

So he was making fun of his own inability to look after a child? Seems quite tame, but his response has been a bit mental.

#54

But as @elthamsmateowen says above, it’s Gervais who’s got the bigger audience here (than Belfast Live or the Neonatal Society or whatever). If he’d just acted like a human and gave them a call or something then that would have probably been like that. Instead he decided to act like he was the person more greatly offended.

But as you say above, it’s his living, isn’t it. And people lap it up. Being a fucking edgelord for a living. Gervais, Legs-it… etc.

1 Like
#56

Quite. He’s got every right to say what he wants, they’ve got every right to complain. He probably shouldn’t have said what he did, and they probably shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Everyone’s fucked up, nothing bad has actually happened, in the scheme of things.

He’s just courting more press to make sure his next tour sells out before it goes on sale, too.

#57

Yeah, I suspect he’s made a big deal out of it for a reason.

Before this thread, I didn’t even know he was touring.

1 Like
#58

hmm

well actually, this shows a huge lack of empathy
it’s probably not obvious unless you’ve been in that situation but every single parent’s first response on losing their child was that it WAS their own fault. That they load themselves with guilt at being responsible for their child’s death is standard. That the first stage of post-trauma therapy in these situations is getting rid of that guilt

so I can understand the response both of the parents and of Gervais as he probably is blind to the fact that he touched such a raw nerve

1 Like
#59

Who?!

4 Likes
#60

That guy who does the dance, not Letterman guy, the other one.

3 Likes
#61

Gervais is such such a prick nowadays

#62

Someone deleted my post. What about MY free speech?!

[inserts xkcd comic]

#63

He’s just a bit of a tit really isn’t he? The actual output of his comedy since extras has turned into everything he said he once hated.

Despite this I can still enjoy the office knowing all this bollocks he talks is just an act really. His laugh in the outtakes alone will always get me

Shame he is a Knob but was always gonna be that way

#64

While he’s not entirely off base in suggesting that yes ultimately freedom of speech is going to result in some people being offended by what other’s say it seems relatively inconsequential as there’s no real consequence to a couple complaining about a joke he made, they’re just enacting their own freedom of speech.

Regarding the second point as mentioned there was that Dave Chapelle comedy special, I suppose the difference with Chapelle is rather than turning this into a “people are too easily offended these days” he just seems to acknowledge that yes in comedy people can potentially find some of the things he says offensive.

#65

Can’t imagine not going to see a good comedian instead and saving about 40 quid.

#66

didn’t realise this happened at the belfast gig. my workmate was at that, didn’t mention any walkout so mustn’t have been obvious.

that is all