Ricky Gervais Goes On the Offensive

Get ready for the sickest joke ever told. But before Ricky Gervais hits you with it near the end of his HBO special Ricky Gervais: Out of England 2 — The Stand-up Special (Saturday, 10/9c, HBO), the badass Brit takes on gay animals, famine in Africa, fat people on planes and, of course, the Bible. Nothing's sacred!

TV Guide Magazine: You push envelopes we didn't know existed, yet insist you're never offensive and will never apologize for a joke. What's up with that?
Gervais: I'm not a comicwho thinks comedy is your conscience taking a day off. Mine never takes a day off. So I don't agree that things I say are offensive. Offense is relative. Just because someone is offended doesn't mean they're in the right. That's why I will never apologize. I do feel I have to justify my success and my inflated wages. What I don't have to justify is my comedy.

TV Guide Magazine: So nothing offends you?
Gervais: Only two things make my blood boil — religious fascism and animal cruelty.

TV Guide Magazine: Everyone's so damn sensitive these days. The PC police are everywhere. Are comics an endangered species?
Gervais: Most people are clever enough to know when we're being ironic. They understand satire. Sometimes I will play the bigot or the rude boor and people don't get the joke, but you can't legislate against stupidity.

TV Guide Magazine: You've slimmed down, yet chastise your fans for applauding that.
Gervais: Because they're applauding me for eating normally! You can get in the Guinness Book of Records with the world's longest fingernails, which basically means you've been honored for not doing something. Pretty soon people will come out of jail going, "I haven't raped for three years." Round of applause. Where does it stop?

TV Guide Magazine: Your new routine includes the ultimate tasteless joke. Why go there?
Gervais: Because I'm always daring people to complain. The gasp gives me an even bigger buzz than the laugh.

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