Ricky Gervais has delivered the ultimate response to his critics who’ve used social media of late to moan about the first-look at his upcoming Netflix special, Mortality.
Fans will get a chance to watch Mr Gervais’s sold-out show on the streaming platform later this month, and to promote the special, Netflix has released a short snippet.
In it, Mr Gervais brands Mortality his most “honest and confessional” special yet, although not in an “Edinburgh Fringe type of way”.
He goes on to joke that he’s “pretty sure I’m not autistic” because someone once handed him a Rubik’s Cube and he threw it away.
The joke drew laughs from the crowd in attendance in the clip, but it’s been met with its fair share of complaints from his critics online.
“The most overhyped ‘comedian’ of all time,” one person posted on X, while a second echoed: “I think we can now safely assume that Gervais had nothing to do with the writing of The Office.
“Nobody can write something that good & then go on to write Life’s Too Short, Derek, Afterlife, and these steaming piles of utter shite. It’s impossible to drop off this badly.” (sic)
A number of complaints even caught the eye of Mr Gervais, who took to X to hit back at the naysayers.
“The problem with Ricky Gervais’ stand up is that he has no internal self, and so his idea of confessional and honest is ‘oh dying that’s a bit s**t innit?’ or ‘what’s a joke about autism that I’ve heard a person on the street say’. This is the absence of art,” one X user criticised.
“No, the problem is, you’re taking the set-up to a joke seriously,” Mr Gervais posted in response.
When another troll sarcastically suggested they missed the “joke” in the clip, Mr Gervais responded: “Wasn’t the thousands of people laughing loudly a clue?”
And the 64-year-old went one step further soon after, sharing a video that brilliantly dismissed any complaints from his opponents.
“Hello, Ricky Gervais here,” he began. “I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who bought a ticket to my Mortality Tour, and everyone who tried.
“It’s probably my favourite tour so far. The special drops on Netflix on the 30th of December, so if you like the show, or if you like my previous shows, then you’re going to love the special. It’s more me than ever.”
Turning his attention to his critics, he mocked: “If you didn’t like my previous shows, you’ll hate it. You’ll hate it more than… Don’t watch it.
“It’ll make you sad and angry. Don’t even watch the trailers, because they’ll make you… You’ll post something about them, and no one will care, and that’ll make you sadder and angrier.
Wasn’t the thousands of people laughing loudly a clue?
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) December 6, 2025
“Watch something you do like, and talk to your little friends. Doctor Who. You’ll love that. Watch Doctor Who.”
He went on to express his gratitude to customers of Dutch Barn Vodka, his alcohol brand that has been in the news of late thanks to a series of banned billboard adverts.