Ricky Gervais’s SuperNature deals in cheap jokes and humiliating trans people - review

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Ever since he burst into the British comedy mainstream, way back in 2001 when the first episode of The Office aired, he has polarised opinions – but, if the extended riff on “eskimos” in this, his new Netflix special, SuperNature, is anything to go by, he is more than happy living at the poles. “Full disclosure,” he reveals towards the end of the show, “in real life, of course I support trans rights.” At this point there are a few stray cheers from the naïve few in the audience who think the irony is real, but that’s nothing compared to the roar of laughter and applause when the punchline – a crass joke about gender affirmation surgery – arrives. Gervais’s brand of outspoken atheism – very popular in the mid-Noughties under folk like Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris – has gone so totally out of fashion that it now has an almost charming quaintness. “Please welcome to the stage a man who really doesn’t need to do this,” Gervais’s disembodied voice announces as the title comes up.