Following the complete sell out of his UK tour, multi-award-winning writer/comedian Ricky Gervais brought his new stand up show Ricky Gervais Live: Out of England 2 to Los Angeles.
Performing Sunday night at the Nokia Theatre, Gervais delivered an honest, hilarious, tasteless and thought provoking 75-minute set that thrilled the celebrity studded audience featuring such fans as Kathy Griffin, Ben Stiller, Rob Reiner, Jamie Lee Curtis, Christopher Guest and Ed Norton.
Todd Barry opened the show with his droll New York observational humor and deadbeat delivery. This was followed by a short film featuring fellow comic Louis C.K. that set the bar for raunchiness.
Gervais, looking trimmer in his customary black t-shirt and jeans covered such taboo topics as obesity, homosexuality, religion and racism.
The British comic utilized a slide show presentation and giant pointer allowing him to deconstruct a children’s book about Noah’s Ark and then delve into the prevalence of homosexuality in the animal kingdom.
The best moments were when the comedian riffed beyond the intended material. Hopefully HBO will air this new act as a special so the rest of the world can bask in the genius of Gervais!
Ricky is consistantly delivering high standards of comedy genius again and again. I think we will see Gervais set the bar to a level we have not seen yet.