Ricky Gervais Says He Only Pretends to Be A ‘Loose Cannon’

The idea that Ricky Gervais might offend at any moment is simply marketing, says the man himself. His dangerous reputation as a Golden Globes host? “The marketing thing is that, ‘It’s live. He could say anything. Oh, my God. He’s brutal. Oh, he doesn’t care about anything.’ All those are untrue,” Gervais told Variety. “I write those jokes. I look at them from every angle. I make sure they’re bulletproof. I go out with a beer, I pretend to be a loose cannon, but I’m not. I’m never drunk. I have like a sip. And I can justify anything. I’m never that brutal. It just seems like it.”

But despite Gervais’ allegedly inoffensive comedy, he still gets nailed by the press, at least according to Gervais. “The press of America was like I murdered someone,” he said about coverage of his Golden Globes hosting stints. “This myth that I don’t care about anything … I desperately care what people think of my words and my art and all those things.”

Why would journalists treat Gervais like he murdered someone? Could it be because he’s the one behind the “marketing” that he’s a comedy bad boy? The comic rarely does a special or hosts an awards show without reminding everyone what a dangerous fellow he is. Here are a few examples: 

• Armageddon Special: “My last show, SuperNature, dropped on Netflix last year. Big backlash, wasn’t there? Oh, big backlash. People going, ‘You can’t say that.’ You can. You can. I did.”
• 2020 Golden Globes: “You’ll be pleased to know this is the last time I’m hosting these awards, so I don’t care anymore. I’m joking. I never did. NBC clearly doesn’t care either — fifth time. I mean, Kevin Hart was fired from the Oscars for some offensive tweets — hello? Lucky for me, the Hollywood Foreign Press can barely speak English and they’ve no idea what Twitter is, so I got offered this gig by fax. Let’s go out with a bang, let’s have a laugh at your expense.”
• 2012 Golden Globes: “Now the Hollywood Foreign Press have warned me that if I insult any of you or any of them or offend any viewers or cause any controversy whatsoever, they’ll definitely invite me back next year as well. They actually gave me a list of rules. I’m going to ignore them.”

People believe Gervais is brutal because he tells us every chance he gets. But maybe Variety talked to a newer, more mellow Gervais. The same guy who told the BBC that his sitcom The Office could never get made today — “Now it would be canceled” — is now giving everyone permission to be offended by his comedy after all. “Everyone’s allowed not to like you, not to like your stuff, not to buy your tickets, not to go to see your films,” he explained. “Censorship isn’t deciding to turn your own TV off, it’s someone coming round and making you turn your own TV off. And I think that’s what some people sort of mistake for censorship. I make my own decision.” 

And despite his reputation, Gervais swears he’s doing his best not to offend. When he comes up with a questionable punchline, he wonders, “Is that joke good enough to be hated? Is that joke worth being hated for? And usually I go, ‘No, I can make it more palatable,’ or ‘I can make it more understandable.’ Or, I can just not ruin their day.”