Ricky Gervais, Touring review - new show, not-so new gags

Ricky Gervais begins by bringing us up to date with the latest “outrage” he has caused; two Netflix specials, SuperNature and Armageddon, upset some people, he tells us, thus giving them even more attention than they might otherwise have had. So now with Mortality he's probably going to upset some more, thus making the Netflix special that will follow its lengthy tour (ending in November next year) even more successful. “Stupid cunts.”

Well, yes, Gervais is very good at needling those who no doubt will take umbrage at some of the jokes in Mortality, the ones about slavery, or paedophiles and Sharia law. Despite being a self-professed liberal, it's mostly people on the left – or at least those who profess to be but who have difficulty in accepting others' right to express differing views – who get it in the neck in Gervais's comedy.

After a strong – if self-referential – opening of the show (which I saw at the Brighton Centre), Gervais delivers some ho-hum comedy, with references to Jimmy Savile, Stephen Hawking and Harold Shipman. And while the jokes may be freshly penned, they cover some well trodden ground for the comic – and is there anything new to say about them?

There is a more recent hook in his mention of the comic Rosie Jones (who has cerebral palsy) and made a Channel 4 documentary, Am I a R*tard?, examining ableism and online hate speech against disabled people.

Many people objected to what they saw as a deliberately provocative title, and Gervais makes an astute point here – the important difference between “saying” a word and “using” a word; reporting that someone used the word in a title has vastly different import to using it to describe them. Sadly this is as deep as the show gets, frustratingly so.

The show never really takes flight; Gervais writes some thoughtful and sparky material, but there is little new or revealing in Mortality, despite him saying it is his most personal show yet.

His earnest call at the end of his 70-minute set for real freedom of speech – the freedom to offend – is welcome but this is a show some way from Gervais at his best.

• Touring until 8 November 2025
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