Ricky Gervais explains why he laughs about ‘terrifying bad things’ including ‘evergreen’ topics like ‘famine, AIDS, cancer, Hitler’

has explained why he laughs about ‘terrified bad things’ and why some people find his humour offensive.

The comedian, who is known for some savage material and has openly spoken out against cancel culture and the woke community, discussed irony on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

‘People get offended when they mistake the subject of the joke with the actual target and smart people know you can deal with anything, particularly when dealing with something like irony,’ he explained.

The 60-year-old, who , added that he covers a variety of ‘evergreen’ topics, including ‘famine, AIDS, , Hitler.’

Ricky, who was promoting his new Netflix show, SuperNature, revealed that at the start of the special, he explains irony to his audience, ‘just to warn them,’ he said.

He added: ‘Humour gets us over bad stuff. That’s why I laugh about terrifying bad things. You know, that’s why comedians are obsessed with death because, you know, it gets us through… it’s an inoculation to the real things that are going to happen.’

Recently, Ricky admitted that he won’t be going easy on his next stand-up show, and is actually ‘trying to get cancelled.’

Speaking , Ricky revealed: ‘One thing I’ve decided to definitely do, and can’t wait to start on, is my new stand-up show, which is going to be called Armageddon. 

‘I’m treating it like it’s my last one ever. It won’t be, but I want to put everything into it. I want to try and get cancelled. No, I just want to go all-out there.’ 

Speaking about cancel culture, Ricky previously told Metro.co.uk: ‘Everyone’s got a different definition of cancel culture. If it is choosing not to watch a comedian because you don’t like them, that’s everyone’s right. But when people are trying to get someone fired because they don’t like their opinion about something that’s nothing to do with their job, that’s what I call cancel culture and that’s not cool.

‘You turning off your own TV isn’t censorship. You trying to get other people to turn off their TV, because you don’t like something they’re watching, that’s different.’ 

He continued: ‘Everyone’s allowed to call you an a******e, everyone’s allowed to stop watching your stuff, everyone’s allowed to burn your DVDs, but you shouldn’t have to go to court for saying a joke that someone didn’t like. And that’s what we get dangerously close to. 

‘If you don’t agree to someone’s right to say something you don’t agree with, you don’t agree with freedom of speech.’