Ricky Gervais has taken a swipe at Baby Boomers for "causing global warming" during a secret comedy show held in London this week.
The award-winning comedian made the jab while testing his latest material on an exclusive audience at Leicester Square Theatre.
Giving a lucky few a preview to what’s in store for his up-and-coming tour, Armageddon, he revealed the new show will explore how "humanity will end" .
As heard by The Sun, the 60-year-old said: “The new show is going to be called Armageddon and it’s going to be about how I think humanity will end — whether we will evolve, go to another planet, or we destroy it with things at our disposal.”
Ricky Gervais as Tony in his hit Netflix show After-life
PA Features Archive/Press Association Images
He continued: “People born this century are going to have a very different middle age to me.
“It’s my fault and the generation before me, the Boomers — with fossil fuels, deforestation, causing global warming, everything like that."
“So, 20-year-olds today, in 40 years’ time they’ll be huddled in their houses like prisons, wearing masks, afraid, in pain, crying . . . like they do now over jokes. I am going to spend all of my money on private jets from now on, to make sure it definitely f***ing happens.”
Mr Gervais' comments come as he joins a story-telling campaign, along with 300 celebrities and environmental experts, that aims to tackle the climate crisis.
The year-long project called Rewriting Extinction produces comics that take on issues such as deforestation and overconsumption.
Ricky Gervais during the filming for the Graham Norton Show at BBC
Matt Crossick
The new Armageddon tour is expected to be his most controversial yet as it will take on "woke cancel culture".
In another tongue-and-cheek joke made at the private preview he said: "I am trying to be more woke. For example, I love illegal immigrants. Sue me.
“Sometimes I just go down to Dover and I see a f***ing dinghy with 60 of them on and I go, ‘Come on, welcome! Women and children first. Oh, there are no women — just you lads, is it?’”
Mr Gervais has previously said how he'd set out to “get cancelled” with the brand-new show, as he will be “treating it like it’s my last one ever”.
The comedian saw a meteoric rise to fame after co-creating, co-writing and acting in the British television mockumentary sitcom The Office.
His most recent show 'After life' on Netflix has also been a roaring success. It is currently the most watched British comedy in the world, with a global viewership of over 100 million.
He has won seven BAFTA Awards, five British Comedy Awards, two Emmy Awards and three Golden Globes.
After hosting the Golden Globes Awards in 2020, he faced backlash as he tried to curtail political speeches on climate change from, as he described, “Hollywood elites”.
Mr Gervais claimed the award recipients were “in no position” to lecture the public.
In his opening monologue he said: “So if you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech. You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg.”
