With support from Robin Ince, himself a baby-faced assassin, Gervais toured the UK earlier this year with Politics, his second stand-up show following on from the successful run of Animals. I was lucky enough to catch his Hammersmith Apollo gig. If anything, the set is funnier on repeat viewing.

True, some of the material is as fresh as a pair of soiled Y-fronts. Indeed, I remember the Kleenex and shower scene gag about Schlinder’s List doing the rounds of common rooms during my university days. Last century. When Ricky Gervais was the entertainments officer of my student union.

Ricky recalls his time at ULU with a hilarious anecdote about a leaflet targeting homosexuals, suggesting HIV-friendly alternatives to anal sex. Gervais shares some of the recommendations, which include using hair, watermelon and, bizarrely, an open window as props. It’s smutty, but he does crude very well. Quite the Rabelaisian is Ricky.

Nothing is taboo with Gervais. There are no sacred cows in this philosophy graduate’s world view. Even idol-to-many Mahatma Gandhi comes in for a lambasting. Ricky speaks what usually remains unspoken. Sometimes you find you’re checking yourself before laughing because you think he’s gone too far. But even at his most kamikaze, the in-your-face Gervais wings it.

Following the release of this DVD, the government might well have to rethink their health warnings policy. True, cigarettes can kill. But then again so can chucklemeister Ricky Gervais.
(5/5)

Release Date: 15 November 2004

Ricky Gervais Live 2 - Politics