Ricky Gervais Is Road Testing New Material At These Venues In The Next Few Months

Ever since he masterminded one of this country's most groundbreaking comedies The Office, Ricky Gervais has often been referred to as one of the UK's greats. Off the back of his work-based sitcom, Gervais has enjoyed plenty of big time movie and book deals, as he's been conquering the world for the past two decades. Nowadays, while often controversial, Gervais gets a lot of attention because of his standup shows. Some find him hysterical, others find him despicable. But if you're in the former camp, you must be dying to know — will Ricky Gervais tour the UK in 2019?

He certainly will be, but you'll want to be quick. Gervais is bringing his fifth standup show #Supernature to smaller venues throughout the UK across March and April, in what'll be warm-up shows to a more fully fledged tour in the near future. Writing on Facebook, Gervais announced the tour on April 15, 2018, writing that his next tour "looks at the absurdity of superstition, magic and all unsubstantiated beliefs, and celebrates the conclusion that Nature is already Super enough."

As a very vocal atheist, this sounds well on brand for Gervais. He's written plenty on the topic of atheism, including this blog post for the Wall Street Journal which he penned back in 2010. But now you'll get to see his ideas in the flesh — hopefully with some jokes rolled in there too. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be cackling.

His warm-up shows for #SuperNature, which you can buy tickets for at Live Nation, begins in Tunbridge Wells on March 27, and culminates on April 27 in Hastings. Unfortunately, all of the dates take place in southern England, so you might want to book your travel soon if you're coming from afar.

The show follows his last major standup tour and Netflix special Humanity, which received quite a bit of controversy, and might be a sign of things to come in #Superhuman. Humanity truly established Gervais as a love him or hate him figure. Several critics reviewed the show with disdain, including Paste Magazine, who wrote: "Humanity makes you hope for an extinction level event, and soon."

It was ardently praised by others. The Daily Telegraph wrote that Humanity "feels like his most cohesive show to-date, the most consistently funny and most heart-on-sleeve." And if you've seen the show I'm sure that you felt strongly about it — one way or the other — too. Such is the appeal of Gervais. He always demands a reaction — be that hatred or stomach-crippling laughter — and in my opinion, that's often been his draw.

No doubt #Superhuman will strike up a reaction too. If you do go and see it, you'll be one of the first to see what I imagine will be the show that's talked about for several months to come. For better or worse, Gervais is a talking point that won't be going away anytime soon. If you love him, get tickets to his show. If you hate him, I'd just go ahead and mute "Ricky Gervais" on Twitter now.