Ricky Gervais's latest Netflix stand-up special gets release date confirmed - and it's very soon

Netflix has confirmed the release date for Ricky Gervais’s next stand-up special.

Mortality marks Gervais’s fourth stand-up special and promises to be “as unfiltered as ever” and “his best show yet”. And now, we know it will arrive on Netflix on 30th December.

Filmed at the London Palladium earlier this year, the special will see the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning comedian focus on his own mortality through a “brutally honest and darkly funny” filter that examines his life, death and the state of the world.

It won’t be the first time Gervais has explored mortality, with the comedian notably touching on the topic in his Netflix series After Life, which follows a man as he struggles to come to terms with the death of his wife.

Gervais’s Mortality will complete its international 80-arena tour this December ahead of the special’s release, and a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to charity. The tour has broken box office records in numerous European territories.

Gervais has established himself as one of the world’s biggest comedians through Mortality and previous shows including Humanity, SuperNature and Armageddon.

His 2022 show SuperNature received backlash for transphobic jokes, which the comedian later said didn’t target “trans folk, but trans activist ideology”.

His 2023 special Armageddon, meanwhile, drew criticism for his use of an ableist slur. In response to the backlash, Gervais later labelled the offence as "faux outrage".

Gervais previously defended his sometimes controversial performances, saying in an interview with the Stick to Football podcast that he can "justify" all of the "taboo" topics that he addresses.

"I don't go out there and just say the first thing that comes to my head, thinking there is no consequence," he said.

"I don't do that, so I've got to be able to justify it. Everything I do, I've got to be able to go, 'This is why it's OK.'"

Gervais continued: "A lot of my stuff, because we're dealing with taboo subjects, seems worse than it actually is. If you analyse it, it's not that bad. It's just because you're dealing with contentious subjects and buzz words, where people gasp, but if you look at the jokes, it's fine."

Mortality will be available to stream on Netflix from 30th December.

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