Comedian James Acaster’s Takedown of Ricky Gervais Trends Following Anti-Trans Netflix Special
Abid Rahman
2 min read
Comedian James Acaster’s Takedown of Ricky Gervais Trends Following Anti-Trans Netflix Special
Ricky Gervais’ new Netflix special SuperNature caused predictable outrage due to the comedian’s jokes aimed at transgender people, but now a clip from fellow Brit funnyman James Acaser has begun to trend on social media, in which “edgy comics” like Gervais are mocked for punching down on vulnerable groups.
The clip, taken from Acaster’s 2019 special Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999, sees the usually mild-mannered comic satirizing “edgy” performers like Gervais, who he names directly. “They say whatever they like, edgy comedians. No one tells them what they can and can’t say. They walk straight on stage, top of their specials sometimes, and do 10 solid minutes just slagging off transgender people,” Acaster says.
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(Mere minutes into SuperNature, which debuted on Tuesday, Gervais’ opening jokes include one about gender-fluid comic Eddie Izzard and trans women, which he describes as “new women” who have “beards and cocks.” The opening also includes references to pronouns, women’s bathrooms and TERFs.)
Acaster continues in the Cold Lasagne clip, “People on the internet get upset about it… the comedian’s always like, ‘Bad luck, that’s my job, I’m a stand-up comedian, I’m there to challenge people. If you don’t like being challenged, don’t watch my show. What’s the matter guys, too challenging for you?’”
He adds: “Yeah, cause you know who’s been long overdue a challenge? The trans community. They’ve had their guard down for too long, if you ask me. They’ll all be checking their privilege on the way home, thanks to you, you brave little cis boy.”
Later in the clip, Acaster names Gervais specifically, saying: “I used to name one of the comedians that was about, in that routine, but it always got really awkward in the room because apparently in 2019 most people are still more than happy to laugh at trans people, but they’re not comfortable laughing at Ricky Gervais yet. That’s the line.”
Speaking to U.K. newspaper the Metro, Acaster explained why he was targeting comedians like Gervais, who he felt were punching down. “It was important to me to do it because – first of all, it started, like a lot of comedy routines do, if you see something that’s ridiculous or silly, then you want to make a joke about it and I think the attitude of comedians saying that they’re challenging people with their comedy and then punching down is just completely nonsensical because that’s not how challenging people works,” he said.
The response to Gervais’ SuperNature follows a similar backlash against Dave Chappelle’s 2021 Netflix special The Closer which featured transphobic material. Chappelle’s special proved so controversial it sparked protests and a walkout of Netflix’s trans staffers and allies.
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