It’s not easy to take Ricky Gervais’s Afterlife seriously – or indeed not seriously – after it was so savagely deconstructed by Stewart Lee, who memorably told Rob Brydon it was ‘one of the worst things to ever be made by a human.’.
But we mention it again because this particular clip went viral after it was shared by the man himself – Gervais not Lee (or Brydon) – telling his followers that the Netflix show allowed him to say things he wasn’t brave enough to utter in real life.
Afterlife allowed me to say the things I’m not brave enough to say in real life pic.twitter.com/DBUf0XNb1A
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) July 30, 2025
And it got lots of love, obviously, but not unusually for Gervais there was no shortage of people going in the other direction. The polar opposite direction.
Brutally unfunny. https://t.co/RVM9ZemXFp
— Will Sloan (@WillSloanEsq) July 31, 2025
hate “comedians” whose whole gimmick is being inconvenienced as a white guy. https://t.co/tlMhlYnQ1o
— LukaLover (@jkaonr) July 31, 2025
Rich famous man writes a scene for himself where he yells at a young man collecting money for the less fortunate. Very brave https://t.co/8XRh52r242
— static (@isawtheppgrow) July 31, 2025
Right wing mainstream comedy is basically just that bloke down the pub or your uncle at parties who finished everything with ‘I’m just saying what we’re all thinking’. However instead of being kicked out or removed from the Christmas card list, they now get Netflix deals. https://t.co/ahumfoTHiy
— Callum Dodsley (@GrapsTalk) July 31, 2025
Fair play to Gervais, who took the time to respond to some of the criticism on Twitter, except once someone started pulling at the thread it felt like the whole thing rather unravelled.
Like this person.
Candor is good, but this is as much meanness as anything else. The kid is just trying to make some money. Why ruin his day?
— i/o (@avidseries) July 30, 2025
You know he’s an actor, right?
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) July 30, 2025
Yes, you made that clear in your tweet. I wasn’t suggesting that this clip was from a documentary of your actual life.
— i/o (@avidseries) July 30, 2025
And this person.
Insanely rich man shouts at charity collector. Stunning and brave.
— TTID (@TTIDxTHFC) August 1, 2025
He’s not insanely rich. He works for a local newspaper. Wait, you know it’s a fictional character right?
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) August 1, 2025
‘I’m not brave enough to say in real life’
— TTID (@TTIDxTHFC) August 1, 2025
Exactly. Fiction is not real life.
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) August 1, 2025
I’m aware. I just don’t think it would be particularly admirable were you ‘brave’ enough to do this in real life.
The show has some great moments though
— TTID (@TTIDxTHFC) August 1, 2025
I agree. The caption was a joke to get people to watch the clip.
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) August 1, 2025
In that respect, if nothing else in this particular case, Gervais appears to have succeeded.
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Source @rickygervais
