James Acaster joke mocking Ricky Gervais resurfaces after his Netflix special Armageddon

Fans have been resharing Acaster’s 2019 bit, which takes aim at comedians who defend controversial or offensive material by claiming their role is ‘to challenge people’

A clip of comedian James Acaster mocking Ricky Gervais has resurfaced in the wake of the fellow comic’s Netflix special, Armageddon.

Gervais, 62, stars in the stand-up show filmed during his 2022 tour, which is described by the streaming service as a series of “controversial takes on political correctness and oversensitivity in a taboo-busting comedy special about the end of humanity”.

Armageddon has been panned by critics, with The Independent’s critic remarking that Gervais has become “trapped in the web of political correctness”.

“Gervais’s jokes, which mock illegal immigrants, homeless people, trans people and more, are the sort of opinions that, far from getting you cancelled, are likely to be vote winners at the ballot box,” Nick Hilton wrote.

“Rather than being ‘great satire’, Armageddon is just another piece of lazy comedy that plays on the majority’s fear of minority voices.”

Now, a clip from Acaster’s 2019 stand-up show, Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999, has resurfaced on social media, with many citing it as one of the most memorable takedowns of Gervais.

At the time, Gervais’s Netflix special SuperNature had been met with condemnation due to a series of jokes targeting the trans community.

In Acaster’s set, the 38-year-old mocks Gervais for his tendency to defend “free speech” and hit out at so-called “cancel culture”.

James Acaster took aim at Ricky Gervais in his 2019 standup show (Getty)

He begins by taking aim at comics who spend much of their time “slagging off transgender people”.

“They say whatever they like, edgy comedians. No one tells them what they can and can’t say. They walk straight on stage, top of their specials sometimes, and do 10 solid minutes just slagging off transgender people,” he says in the clip.

“People on the internet get upset about it… the comedian’s always like, ‘Bad luck, that’s my job, I’m a stand-up comedian, I’m there to challenge people. If you don’t like being challenged, don’t watch my show. What’s the matter guys, too challenging for you?’

“Yeah, cause you know who’s been long overdue a challenge? The trans community. They’ve had their guard down for too long, if you ask me. They’ll all be checking their privilege on the way home, thanks to you, you brave little cis boy.”

He continues: “I used to name one of the comedians that was about, in that routine, but it always got really awkward in the room because apparently in 2019 most people are still more than happy to laugh at trans people but they’re not comfortable laughing at Ricky Gervais yet. That’s the line.”

“When it comes to Ricky Gervais, nobody says it better than James Acaster,” author and educator Zoe Paramour tweeted this week, sharing the clip.

Acaster addressed how the clip routinely goes viral in response to controversies surrounding comedians such as Gervais or Dave Chappelle in an interview with The Independent last year.

“Well, I’m definitely glad that the clip used is the clip in its entirety... It’s kept in context, so that’s great,” he said.

Explaining how friends would often message him to check if he was OK with the backlash from fans of his fellow comedians, he responded: “I’m not seeing any of it, and also, I don’t mind. If it’s people who disagree with that statement, then I don’t really mind if they’re getting angry about it or hating me.”

He added: “It’s all well and good, my comedy routine about it, [but] people sometimes talk about it like it’s the thing that people keep on holding up in the argument.

“I know that the argument is one group of comedians saying this stuff and so people fire back with a clip of another comedian, and I get how that’s relevant, and I am specifically talking about them. But there are so many brilliant trans comedians working today, and many writers and think-pieces being written about the subject that are way more articulate and better than me wearing a pair of aviator sunglasses and a sunset jacket.”

Gervais defended his comedy routine in a recent interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, following uproar over a joke in Armageddon about terminally ill children, in which he uses the ableist slur, “r*****”.

“I’m literally saying in the joke that I don’t do that. But people have a reaction. They don’t analyse it,” he said. “They feel something – that’s what offence is. It’s a feeling. That’s why ‘I’m offended’ is quite meaningless. What do you want me to change?”

The comedian added that he believes that “99 per cent” of the reaction was “faux offence”.

“They’re not really offended. They just want to be heard,” he said.

On Thursday 29 December, he reacted to the show’s success on Netflix, where it is currently the No 1 TV show in the UK.

“F***ing Hell,” he wrote on X/Twitter. “I think Armageddon is going to be huge. Thanks to everyone who loved it and raved about it, and of course, everyone who hated it and whined about it. You all played your part.”