His previous special,Supernature,drew strong criticism for his jokes about trans issues,and for seeming to cross a line between ‘I don’t care who I offend’ to ‘I enjoy offending people’.
Armageddon,presently the number 1 show on Netflix in Australia,is arguably not as provocative asSupernature.But there does still seem to be an attempt to court controversy from a man who has proved himself invincible to cancel culture despite being high on the list of what might be termed problematic celebrities.
This doesn’t mean it’s as funny as Gervais can be,his focus inArmageddon seems to be on being edgy,rather than being hilarious.
Gervais’ musings on “woke” do not descend to Fox News-level lefty-baiting,and his mockery of those who might occasionally be tagged with that epithet is for the most part amusing enough.
But the very fact he pulls out such a tired,played-out term is suggestive of a certain lack of sharpness:a little laziness of thought that does not permeate the special,but does occasionally seep in,to the show’s overall detriment.
The show is not,thank goodness,all about wokeness,though Gervais’ delight in poking fun at modern sensitivities is always evident. His main subject,as usual,is the arrogance and stupidity of the human race,whether that takes the form of ludicrous cultural policing of movies,petty fixations on language,or our species’ peculiarly hubristic march to self-destruction – as hinted in the show’s title.