Let's drop the partisan "woke vs. Free speech" thing for a minute and just judge this as a stand up comedy show.
I'm a big fan of Gervais. I've seen a few of his shows live. I'd rate him better as a TV writer/producer than as a stand up but he's done some very good shows in the past (particularly Politics and Animals, both outstanding).
Supernature is somewhat mediocre. It's not terrible, it's maybe slightly better than his "Science" show but I think you have to be kidding yourself to give this 10/10 or even 7/10 on quality of laughs. The problem with Supernature isn't the use of crass, trying-to-offend-you humour about everything from AIDS to the Holocaust to the big T issue, it's that he's trying so, so hard that he ends up delivering his point with all the subtlety of beating someone around the head with a cue ball in a sock.
His long-time habit of finding himself and his own jokes so hilarious he spends extended periods rolling around on the stage laughing at what he's about to tell you before he tells it also detracts from the humour. The punchlines largely fall flat and aren't worth the build-up.
The result is you'll get a few strong laughs, a lot of weak ones and depending where your political views fall might get a feeling of "yeah, you sock it to 'em, Gervais!" which leaves you prone to thinking the whole show was a lot funnier than it was.
I'm a big fan of Gervais. I've seen a few of his shows live. I'd rate him better as a TV writer/producer than as a stand up but he's done some very good shows in the past (particularly Politics and Animals, both outstanding).
Supernature is somewhat mediocre. It's not terrible, it's maybe slightly better than his "Science" show but I think you have to be kidding yourself to give this 10/10 or even 7/10 on quality of laughs. The problem with Supernature isn't the use of crass, trying-to-offend-you humour about everything from AIDS to the Holocaust to the big T issue, it's that he's trying so, so hard that he ends up delivering his point with all the subtlety of beating someone around the head with a cue ball in a sock.
His long-time habit of finding himself and his own jokes so hilarious he spends extended periods rolling around on the stage laughing at what he's about to tell you before he tells it also detracts from the humour. The punchlines largely fall flat and aren't worth the build-up.
The result is you'll get a few strong laughs, a lot of weak ones and depending where your political views fall might get a feeling of "yeah, you sock it to 'em, Gervais!" which leaves you prone to thinking the whole show was a lot funnier than it was.