Entertainment
Ricky Gervais’ After Life slammed as ‘one of the worst things ever made’ by comedian Stewart Lee-Sabrina Barr-Entertainment – Metro
After Life came to an end this year after three seasons.
After Life might have scores of fans… but Stewart Lee is not one of them (Picture: Netflix/Rex/Getty)
While Ricky Gervais’ Netflix series After Life has received widespread acclaim since its premiere in 2019, comedian Stewart Lee is far from a fan, dubbing it ‘one of the worst things ever made’.
In January this year, the comedy-drama – which follows Ricky’s character Tony Johnson as he copes with the aftermath of his wife’s death – returned for its third and final season.
The 61-year-old later said he felt ‘genuinely overwhelmed’ by the reaction it received from viewers, revealing he ‘woke up to literally thousands of the most beautiful tweets’ after the release of the last batch of episodes.
During a recent appearance on Rob Brydon’s podcast Brydon &, 54-year-old Stewart expressed his disparaging take on the series, describing Ricky’s comedy-drama work as ‘abysmal’.
He began by sharing praise for one of Ricky’s other productions, saying: ‘I think The Office is brilliant,’ before saying: ‘I think Ricky’s comedy-drama work is of diminishing returns to the point where it’s now abysmal.
‘I think it must be very sad if you’re teaching drama or creative writing, how can you make a case for the things that make drama and creative writing good when After Life is a success?’
The following clip contains strong language.
Continuing with his tirade against After Life, Stewart said: ‘You know, ‘cause your kids could just go, “But none of those things happen in this,” and yet millions of people watch it. I think it’s one of the worst things that’s ever been made by a human.’
Rob, 57, guffawed in shock at his guest’s blazing takedown of the show, pointing out that he read that Stewart was apparently a ‘big influence’ on Ricky.
‘I know. It’s awful,’ Stewart quipped in response.
He then made a scathing comparison, stating: ‘I don’t suppose Robert Oppenheimer felt great about having created the atomic bomb.’
The comic didn’t hold back when sharing his views on his peer’s work (Picture: Jo Hale/Getty Images)
In August, Ricky reshared a tweet that described After Life as the ‘most watched British comedy in the world’ for the third season in a row ‘with a global viewership of over 110million’.
‘Best fans in the world ❤️,’ he responded at the time.
Despite confirming After Life would be ending with season three, he also admitted that he would have liked to create a fourth season.
‘Everything points towards it except would series four be as good as the first three and actually better because it’s no good for it to be just as good. I don’t want it to outstay its welcome,’ he told Deadline in January this year.
After Life is available to watch on Netflix.
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