Ricky Gervais
- 63 years old
- English
- Actor, writer, director, executive producer and stand-up comedian
Press clippings Page 33
After Life review
After Life is the best thing Gervais has made since Extras.
Frame Rated, 20th March 2019Ricky Gervais interview
Ricky Gervais on provocation, picking targets and outrage culture.
David Marchese, The New York Times, 19th March 2019Ricky Gervais interview
Bleakly funny, pushing boundaries, confronting taboos - we meet the man behind so many comedic creations.
Saga Magazine, 18th March 2019After Life is the latest offering from Ricky Gervais, where he plays widower Tony, a man corroded by grief (staying alive only to feed his dog) who decides to be as obnoxious as he likes and then kill himself, behaviour that he thinks is "like a superpower."
The cast includes Penelope Wilton as a widow, Diane Morgan as Tony's gobby co-worker, and Paul Kaye as a self-satisfied therapist. Apart from videos left by Tony's late wife (a touching Kerry Godliman), the heart is mainly provided by Ashley Jensen as a care-home worker looking after Tony's dad (David Bradley), and Mandeep Dhillon's rookie journalist at the local newspaper where Tony works.
The problem is the wildly swerving tone - from obnoxious to sentimental to caustic to maudlin to pointlessly vile. At one point Tony helps a junkie (Tim Plester) buy enough drugs to kill himself. Ho and ho. This just won't cut it as edgy comedy in the era of Succession, Russian Doll and so much more. After Life worked better during the running joke featuring Tony covering hopeless local stories, such as a boy playing recorders with his nostrils: "Why would people rather be famous for being shit than not famous at all?" This is Gervais's true superpower - as a carping, eye-rolling everyman.
Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 17th March 2019TV review: After Life
Ricky Gervais has completely shaken up our perceptions of what he is capable of with his latest series After Life, showing how this comic can do heart-breaking as well as hilarious.
Becca Moody, Moody Comedy, 17th March 2019Ricky Gervais's obnoxious new comedy isn't funny
His character dabbles in heroin, befriends sex workers and assists a suicide.
Peter Crawley, The Irish Times, 15th March 2019TV review: After Life
With his latest comedy, Ricky Gervais once again channels brutal pathos with snappy punchlines, all with usual aplomb.
Sam Lambeth, Counteract, 12th March 2019Ricky Gervais accused of recycling jokes in After Life
As pointed out on Twitter, the first episode of the show features a joke already seen in his 2004 live tour Politics, where he shared an anecdote about a friend from university, Pete, who bought a newspaper from a "little old lady" with a front page showing an elderly mugging victim.
Clarisse Loughrey, The Independent, 11th March 2019After Life review
Ricky Gervais calls After Life the best thing he's done. This is patently false.
Stuart Heritage, The Guardian, 11th March 2019Gervais's new show isn't offensive, it's boring
How many versions of the same joke can Ricky Gervais tell in one lifetime?
Rachel Cooke, The New Statesman, 11th March 2019