It’s not surprising that comedy’s preeminent stunt queen continues to beg for our attention, but what’s disappointing is that Gervais keeps getting a platform to pretend he has anything meaningful to say. His transphobia is then used as an excuse for a stream of subsequent jokes suggesting that trans women are rapists who pose a threat to women in public restrooms. What comes next is a daisy chain of bigotry gussied up as humor: He leads by making fun of trans icon Eddie Izzard for being a female comic, with the punchline being that Gervais doesn’t believe she’s really a woman. In SuperNature, his new Netflix special, he opens by defining the concept of irony-because he thinks he is much smarter than you-before launching into his little routine about how there are no funny women comedians, delivered with a sly little wink and a self-satisfied smile.
