David Farnor | On 02, Mar 2018

Humanity? Eh, not a big fan. That’s Ricky Gervais in a nutshell, as he returns to Netflix this month for a new stand-up special.

Filmed at the Apollo Hammersmith in London, Gervais’ Humanity is a scathing return to the stage that touches on ageing, becoming spoiled, his perspective on having kids and more.

The stand-up show marks Netflix’s growing relationship with Gervais, following his original film Special Correspondents, starring Eric Bana. Chortle reports that Netflix paid the highest fee ever for a British stand-up special to secure the rights to Humanity, although the exact number was never disclosed. The streaming site has also inked a new deal with Netflix for his next special, even though it hasn’t been performed yet.

“I can’t wait for Humanity to air so I can start all over again on a brand new show,” he said in an interview recently. “Stand-up is my new favourite passion now, so it’s an absolute thrill to tour hundreds of wonderful cities and then be able to have it stream on the greatest platform in the world.”

Gervais is also working on a new original Netflix title, which sees him play the lead role of a “middle-aged, grumpy” man, whose wife passes away.

“I don’t know whether it’s a comedy or more of a six-part story. It’s like a series that’s adapted from a novel, I just haven’t written the novel,” he told the Standard at the start of this year.

The project had a working title of “Roll on Death”, but Gervais decided to change it to something else because it sounded too funny,

Humanity premieres on Netflix on Tuesday 13th March. Here’s a trailer – or, for more on what’s coming soon to Netflix UK in March 2018, click here.

 

Ricky Gervais: Humanity is available on Netflix UK, as part of an £9.99 monthly subscription.

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