New Ricky Gervais Netflix comedy special torched by media critics for ‘bigotry,’ ‘humiliation of trans people’

With its unusal-yet-captivating premise of teams solving cryptic puzzles in make-believe worlds, The Crystal Maze has long been regarded as a real diamond of a game show. Launched in 1990, this family-favourite series proved a real hit, with us all gathering around the telly to cheer on players tasked with unlocking the titular crystals.

Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards, Features EditorVariety has named its 10 Comics to Watch for 2022. This year’s honorees will be profiled in the July 20 issue of Variety and be honored at this year’s Just for Laughs Comedy Festival, held in Montreal July 13-31.

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos is sticking behind his decision to back Dave Chappelle. Chappelle, whose comedy special lives on the streaming site, has received backlash over his use of transgender jokes in his set. Netflix employees walked out of the Los Angeles headquarters in protest of "The Closer." Sarandos told The New York Times he was surprised by the employees' reaction, but stood behind his decision to put Chappelle on the platform.

Steven Gerrard's wife Alex has made a rare appearance on social media with the couple's eldest daughter Lilly-Ella, as the pair took part in the latest TikTok craze.The video trend has seen people recording their own videos to an audio clip taken from Real Housewives of Atlanta.Kandi can be heard saying of her enemy Nene: "She thinks that I owe her an apology?"Good thing she don't get paid for thinking."Lilly-Ella, 18, has filmed her own version of the clip whilst in the car with mum Alex, 39.In the video, the pair can be seen mouthing the words to the Real Housewives of Atlanta.The clip has more than 6,000 likes and many fans have been commenting about the lookalike duo.One person wrote: "Gorgeous girls your mum looks like your sister Lilly."Another said: "Lily looks just like her ma."One fan commented: "How beautiful are you and your mum?" with another adding: "Alex ageing like fine wine."Aston Villa's Steven Gerrard celebrated his 42nd birthday on Monday (May 30), with Lilly-Ella sharing a sweet tribute to the footballer.She shared a selection of snaps from the family's holiday in Los Angeles and said: "Happy birthday to my dad. Love you all the world.

Netflix released the comedy special Norm Macdonald secretly filmed before his death on May 30. The one-hour special features the last stand-up material Macdonald wrote and a discussion about the comedian from David Spade, Dave Chappelle, Conan O'Brien, David Letterman, Adam Sandler and Molly Shannon.

The Sun in March: 'Rafferty’s band Outer Stella Overdrive quietly announced his departure last week and will carry on without him.  'He thinks he has what it takes to be a solo artist and his first track will be coming in the next few weeks.

The first Arabic language version of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s British cult comedy classic The Office will air in the Middle East later this year, following a deal struck between licence holder BBC Studios and local producer-broadcaster MBC.

Norm Macdonald’s final stand-up special, filmed before the comedian’s death in September, has made its way to Netflix with fellow funny people paying tribute to the late icon.“We are honored to bring you Norm Macdonald’s last special, followed by reactions and commentary from a few of his special friends,” Netflix wrote in the opening credits for “Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special,” which was released Monday and includes appearances from David Letterman, Dave Chappelle, Molly Shannon, Conan O’Brien, Adam Sandler and David Spade.The special shows Macdonald, who died in September 2021 after a private nine-year battle with leukemia, wearing a baseball cap and headphones and talking into a mike, pandemic Zoom style, in a nondescript room where dogs can be heard barking.“Norm was working hard preparing material for his Netflix special — until COVID shut things down,” another title card read. “In the summer of 2020, he was scheduled to undergo a procedure and as he put it, ‘didn’t want to leave anything on the table in case things went south.’ “The special concludes with Letterman, Chappelle, Shannon, O’Brien, Sandler and Spade gathered together to watch “Nothing Special” and honor their longtime pal.Netflix said Macdonald “shot this in one take” while “at home, the night before going in.”“Hey everybody, it’s Norm Macdonald and this is my comedy special,” he began.

Ricky Gervais, 60, has appeared several times over the years as a host at the Golden Globes, and is very good at making controversial jokes about celebrities in attendance.No one is safe with Ricky around, and the comedian has successfully managed to mock some of the most famous Hollywood actors there are.Most celebs can laugh and shrug Ricky’s jibes off, but Tom Hanks was visibly unimpressed with Ricky’s jokes at the 2020 Golden Globe awards.Ricky said: “I came here in a limo tonight and the license plate was made my Felicity Huffman,” in reference to the college admissions scandal.The stony-faced reaction Tom had to the jokes became a viral meme shortly after, when a photographer at the event captured his facial expression.Comedian Ricky later spoke about the awkward situation in November 2020, chatting to Christian O’Connell on the Stuff of Legends podcast.He told Christian: “The big meme was Tom Hanks going: ‘Why is he saying that?’“And people going, ‘Oh look he’s on his high horse,’ but when Leonardo DiCaprio laughed, people loved him for it.”"I could say a lot worse things about them, but I don't want it to get really nasty and for no reason."He added: "I think people who laugh at a joke, they get a round of applause because people go, 'Oh that's good, they can take it,' we don't want people to be above it."We even let people be privileged as long as they say, 'I know I'm privileged but I'm nothing really,' we don't like people to go 'Oh I deserve it, how dare you talk to me like that'."Ahead of the awkward encounter in 2020 Ricky did admit he felt a bit regretful of a joke he made way back in 2011, about Tom and Toy Story co-tar Tim Allen.He said there was no “malice” in his joke and didn’t want Tim to feel bad

Netflix said in a new interview that he wishes to uphold the comedians’ right to “free expression” even if it means “crossing the line every once in a while”.Chappelle’s The Closer special, which aired last October, included him saying he was “tricked” into calling a trans woman beautiful as well as likening trans women to white people in blackface. He also said he sided was a “TERF”.Gervais’ new stand-up special SuperNature sees him declare that he supports trans rights while saying: “meet me halfway, ladies: lose the cock.” Rights groups have labelled his jokes as transphobic.The Chappelle special prompted LGBTQ+ Netflix employees and supporters to walk out in protest over his transphobic and homophobic jokes.

Ricky Gervais has been known to wind up some of the biggest names in showbiz.

Ricky Gervais agreed not to end Netflix smash hit After Life with a suicide over fears it would upset vulnerable viewers. In the black comedy he plays local journalist Tony Johnson, who is on the verge of killing himself after losing his wife.And experts warned if the character went through with it, fans battling ­similar trauma would be distraught.Ricky, 60, told the Daily Star Sunday: “While I was writing the show, therapists came up to me to talk about it.“One counsellor said to me, ‘Please don’t let Tony commit suicide’.

The head of Netflix is still behind two of the company’s most popular comedians.

Netflix has exclusive comedy specials with big stars like Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais, but the streaming service has faced backlash for working with them due to transphobic jokes included in the specials.

J. Kim Murphy Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has offered further defense for the streamer’s curation of stand-up comedy specials from Ricky Gervais and Dave Chappelle, both of which have been criticized for including language that is considered transphobic.In an interview with Maureen Dowd at The New York Times, Sarandos reaffirmed his stance on airing the specials, saying that the way comedians figure out where the line is is by “crossing the line every once in a while.”“I think it’s very important to the American culture generally to have free expression, Sarandos told the Times.

In a wide-ranging interview published today in the New York Times, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has doubled down on his prior defenses of artistic freedom, backing comedians Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais.

Jessica Seinfeld shared a set of photos and a video that had been taken during her graduation from NYU's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service to her Instagram account on Thursday.The 50-year-old author flashed wide smiles while celebrating her graduation with several of her close friends and classmates in all of the shots, and she was seen walking during a graduation ceremony in her clip.The media personality also wrote a short message to express her feelings about finishing her time in graduate school. Special occasion:Jessica Seinfeld shared a set of photos and a video that had been taken during her graduation from NYU's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service to her Instagram account on Thursday Her man: (L-R) Jerry Seinfeld and Dave Chappelle attend NETFLIX IS A JOKE PRESENTS - Ted's Brunch on May 1, 2022 in Los AngelesSeinfeld's first shot showed her wearing her cap and gown while spending time in her family's home.The wife of Jerry Seinfeld also included several selfies that she took with her classmates in her photoset.

Ricky Gervais’ Netflix special SuperNature.Gervais has faced criticism over “transphobic” jokes in the special that was released on Tuesday (May 24), with LGBT rights organisation GLAAD describing the show as “full of graphic, dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes”.After the special was released, a clip from Kumar’s show It’s In Your Nature To Destroy Yourself Part 2 has been widely shared on social media, where he calls out Gervais for deciding to “shit on the latest minority group”.In the clip, Kumar asks: “Guys, why is everyone so angry with trans people? What did they do? There’s like 12 of them, why is everyone so upset? Everyone’s like, do you say ‘he’ or ‘she’? I don’t know, ask. It’s not an unsolvable conundrum.“Also in my experience, trans people aren’t deliberately mysterious when they do ask.”“Why can’t we do jokes about trans people? What makes them so special?”You can.

Comedian Ricky Gervais is doubling down on the transphobic material included in his new Netflix special SuperNature. Trigger Warning: This story discusses homophobia and transphobia, which might be distressing to some readers. For 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.Speaking with The Spectator, Gervais, 60, claimed, “My target wasn’t trans folk, but trans activist ideology.

Britain’s “The One Show.”The 60-year-old comedian appeared on the BBC chat show Tuesday where he discussed his new Netflix special “SuperNature” as well as his future “death.”Hosts Alex Jones and Jermaine Jenas asked Gervais about his genre of comedy — with him labeling it as “taboo.”After their discussion, the conversation went dark and morbid with Gervais saying: “I’m fat and old and I’m going to die soon.”Jones and Jenas were dumbfounded by the statement, with Jones correcting him by exclaiming, “No you’re not!”“I am,” Gervais insisted, adding, “I’ve brought it down haven’t I?”Jenas chimed in, “Lift it back up.” Then, Gervais replied blatantly, “Every day I’m closer to death.”“Well, we’re all a bit closer to death. Every day is a bigger percentage of the rest of your life and we don’t know what percentage that will be.

Ricky Gervais shocked the hosts of The One Show after he said he was 'going to die soon' during a chat about his new Netflix special SuperNature.