Ricky Gervais Claims Smart People Aren't Offended By Jokes About Hitler, AIDS or Cancer

If you don't find dark humour funny then British comic Ricky Gervais has some bad news for you.

The 60-year-old comedian sat down with Stephen Colbert to discuss his upcoming Netflix special SuperNature.

Gervais told the Late Show With Stephen Colbert host that 'smart people know you can deal with anything' when it comes to humour.

Gervais' comment came as he was explaining how he worked on his latest project, which started way back in 2018.

When asked if he had to change his jokes during his work-hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Gervais said 'it’s always evolving'.

"There was a thought, 'Will this be out of date?' And then I realised that when you’re dealing with, you know, famine, AIDS, cancer, Hitler, those dudes are evergreen. So they’re not going to, they don’t date," he said.

The audience laughed, reeling at his comment, as Colbert replied: "There is no audience that isn’t going to love that."

Gervais laughed, and joked 'Boo, not Hitler! It was a long time ago'.

The 60-year-old comic went on to explain why he deals with topics usually viewed as unmentionable in the public sphere.

"I deal with taboo subjects because I want to take the audience to a place it hasn't been before," he said.

"I think people get offended when they mistake the subject of the joke for the actual target. Smart people know you can deal with anything."

He added: "Humour gets us over bad stuff, that's why I laugh about terrifying, bad things."

Gervais then went on to describe comedy as a remedy against life's hardest moments.

"That’s why comedians are obsessed with death because, you know, it gets us through… it’s an inoculation to the real things that are going to happen," he told Colbert.

The comedian has previously found himself in hot water numerous times, most notably after using his platform as the former host of the Golden Globes to mercilessly roast his fellow celebrities.

As far as his upcoming Netflix special is concerned, the streaming service has described it as ‘Gervais’s take on the rules of comedy, spoiling his cats and how super actual nature is’.

The 60-year-old explained the title to Colbert, revealing he wants to 'debunk the supernatural'.

"I don’t believe in anything supernatural. I believe that anything that exists is by definition part of nature and is explainable. If not now, then eventually," Gervais said.

"And SuperNature, because I think that nature is super enough."

He added: "I don’t need angels and unicorns, I’ve got the duck-billed platypus."

Gervais’s comedy special SuperNature will drop on May 24.