In his new Netflix series After Life, Ricky Gervais plays a man with the freedom to say anything he wants. For his character Tony, grieving the recent loss of his wife, rudeness has become a super power.

"I can do and say what the f**k I want," Tony submits. "And then when it all gets too much, I can always kill myself."

But while Gervais – who's written, directed and stars in the series – will argue that any topic is fair game for comedy, he insists just as strongly that offending people is never his end goal.

He tells press including Digital Spy that there's "no doubt" having After Life go out on Netflix allowed him to push things further, with broadcast TV taking far fewer risks. "You can joke about anything. It depends on the actual joke, I think. But people are too scared to offend now.

"The BBC don’t want certain papers on their back, and shareholders don’t want the hassle, and they don’t want letters of complaint. It’s easier to say, 'Let’s not put that out' than to put something out and take the stick. Some people are just scared because they don’t want the admin."

Still, he doesn't think that jumping to the streaming platform and so escaping the rules and regulations of broadcast TV gives him "carte blanche to go crazy" either. "I edit – it’s not like the things I say just burst out. I think people think that about me hosting the Golden Globes; that I go out there thinking, 'What’s the worst thing I can say to everyone?'.

"I'm not gratuitous and stupid. I *pretend* to be. That’s the marketing: ‘I might say the unsayable, I’m probably drunk.’ Of course I’m not. I planned those jokes."

Gervais hosting the Golden Globes in 2016. Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

After Life, he insists, is equally meticulous in its approach – it's a comedy drama about a man suffering from grief and depression, but Gervais says Tony's condition is not the subject of its humour. "I wasn’t trying to break the record for the most offensive language ever, or the most sensitive subject ever.

"Everyone assumes that comedy is always disrespectful. But offense is usually taken when people mistake the subject of a joke with the actual target. And they’re not necessarily the same thing."



Context, he says, is all-important. In the case of After Life, Tony's outbursts are framed as part of the grieving process. "If you try to free a rat in a trap, it bites you. You don't think 'I’m try to save it, why is it biting me?' because you know why. It’s in pain, and it’s terrified. So I think we understand why Tony’s doing and saying these things. And because of that, we sort of forgive him."

Netflix

He's aware, though, that some people might be offended by After Life regardless. The series isn't even out yet, but a scene in the trailer which sees Tony snap back at an abusive schoolboy, calling him a "tubby ginger c**t", has already irked a few viewers.

"There’s nothing you can say that someone, somewhere, won’t misinterpret and find offensive," Gervais asserts. "You'll say 'Why did the chicken cross the road?' and they'll say, 'Hey, dude, my chicken died yesterday.' There’s always something for someone to find offensive."

Mostly, he thinks, the objections are unjustified. "Also, it’s not about getting a complaint, it’s about getting a complaint upheld. And I’ve never had a complaint upheld. Because I know what I’m doing."

After Life launches Friday (March 8) exclusively on Netflix.

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