Ricky Gervais finds controversy boring.

Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais

The 57-year-old comedian is well-known for his outspoken views, but Ricky has insisted he doesn't make a conscious decision to upset people or to spark controversy.

He confessed: "Controversy bores me, it gets in the way."

Ricky's new TV project is the Netfix series 'After Life', which tells the story of a married man who has a perfect life before his wife suddenly dies.

On the show, Ricky's character, Tony, contemplates committing suicide, and the comedy star has admitted he's actually "in favour of assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia".

Asked whether it's something he would do, Ricky told the Mail on Sunday's Event magazine: "I know that I'd want it. I hope when I'm ready to go you can just go to Boots and get something for it.

"I hope we get more advanced and more liberal, that there's not all this hate for people who want to do it, all this going: 'How dare you?' That's madness."

The new show also portrays the female characters as the strong figures in the story.

And Ricky claims he's always resisted the typical "damsel-in-distress nonsense".

The stand-up comedian - whose new show also features his former 'Extras' co-star Ashley Jensen - explained: "Growing up, to me women weren't the weaker sex. They held it together. They had to be like lionesses.

"So I've never done the damsel-in-distress nonsense. I always try to make strong female characters, instead of using them as props for men to be funny or heroic. Because that's just not true. It's nearly always the opposite in real life. The lionesses do all the work."


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