America Wants Problematic Comedy: Ricky Gervais and Dave Chappelle Keep on Winning
America Wants Problematic Comedy: Ricky Gervais and Dave Chappelle Keep on Winning
Conquering Netflix, the Golden Globes, and beyond
Let’s get one thing clear—Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais are privileged middle aged comedians who punch down on vulnerable targets in a desperate quest for relevance.
At least that’s what I’ve learned from reading media coverage of their recently-released comedy specials. Turns out many custodians of comedy are not pleased with the comedy titans’ latest offerings.
Take The Guardian:
These once-esteemed talents formerly dedicated to puncturing racial tensions or hollow pieties now argue only for the unfairness of their own persecution, and their bravery in resisting it. This is Crank Comedy.
And that’s why “their latest work has seen a quiet, unceremonious and frostily received release.”
Frostily received release?
You could come to that conclusion if you polled the snack room at The Guardian. But Gervais and Chappelle’s latest specials both topped Netflix’s global charts, and Gervais just scored the first-ever Golden Globe for Best Stand-Up Special. Nearly every comedian on earth years to be so “frostily received.”
But the real problem is all you Netflix watchers who refuse to greet Gervais and Chappelle with the frostiness they deserve! Turns out Americans want problematic comedy. What’s even worse for the activists with bylines is viewers around the world want it too.
The Guardian claims that these two problematic specials might slip into irrelevance because of their “inability to make a dent in the mainstream.” But claiming the top spot on Netflix’s global list is about as mainstream as it gets.
Netflix released Chapelle’s special The Dreamer on December 31, so we’ll need a bit more time to determine its reach. Gervais’s Armageddon dropped a week earlier, so let’s compare that with another Golden Globes-nominated comedy special, Trevor Noah’s Where Was I.
Noah enjoys a small time advantage (Netflix released his special a week before Gervais’s), and a substantial media advantage. Being a monoculture-approved comic, critics look for reasons to laud Noah’s latest work even as they might have to convince themselves it’s worth watching.
The Decider might not love Noah’s poop jokes, but note the generous response: “Perhaps Noah feels he needs to lure audiences in with the lowest-hanging premises and punchlines so they’ll stick around for more profound points.”
Gervais and Chappelle also alternate between low and high humor, but to The Guardian reviewer, their lowest material defines their work.
“Sycophants” enjoy Gervais and Chappelle, according to The Guardian reviewer, who calls out a Chappelle audience member who hollers (barely audibly), “We love you!”
Yet The Decider dishes out a positive review to Noah even though much more sycophancy is on display:
And there are so many moments in this hour that are interrupted by waves of applause from the audience, to the point where there might actually be more audible clapter than laughter on the whole.
But enough about the gatekeepers, let’s hear from the masses.
RELATED:
High-level Comedy: Chris Rock Counterpunches Will Smith and Fake Victims
Comedians to the Rescue: Bill Burr’s New Movie Helps Hollywood Find Its Spine
A Safe Space for Taboo Comedy: OnlyFans Won’t Cancel Whitney Cummings
The 'South Park' Rules: How to do Taboo Comedy Without Getting Cancelled
Welcome to America, You're Cancelled: Indian Comedian Has the Last Laugh
How did Where Was I do on Netflix? Very well.
It reached number one in one country, the comedian’s homeland (South Africa) and the top 10 in 18 countries including the US, Canada, and Sri Lanka.
Now for Gervais.
Armageddon reached the top spot in 19 countries, and it hit the top 10 in 50 countries including the US, Canada, UK, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, and Israel.
Don’t expect Gervais to score many points with critics for this, but let’s pause to appreciate the diversity—racial, religious, geographic, and otherwise—of his problematic audience.
The funnyman may have lost his spot at the cool kids’ table (even a long anti-prayer bit couldn’t save his soul!), but someone who can get Christians, atheists, Hindus, Muslims, and Jews to rally around him is meant for bigger things.
It’s clear that Gervais isn’t interested in hosting the Golden Globes any more, so maybe it’s time for him to graduate to a more global organ of the monoculture.
Wouldn’t you tune in to see Ricky Gervais at the UN podium?
Ted Balaker is a filmmaker, and former network newser and think tanker. His recent work includes Little Pink House starring Catherine Keener and Jeanne Tripplehorn, Can We Take a Joke? featuring Gilbert Gottfried and Penn Jillette, and a soon-to-be-released feature documentary based on the bestselling book, The Coddling of the American Mind, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt.
Listening to these people at the Guardian judge comedy is like hearing someone without tastebuds judge a cooking contest. We get it... they're miserable.