Ricky Gervais Laughs Off Media Comments After Alley Cats Reviews

Ricky Gervais has dismissed some of the scathing criticism he has come under since the release of his new show Alley Cats.

While the Office creator has long been a divisive figure in the comedy world, his animated Netflix series about a group of cynical feline friends living on the streets of London has received some of the worst reviews of his career.

In the weeks since, Ricky has made it clear that he stands by the project, and in an X post, laughed off a piece in The Spectator about Alley Cats, which pondered: “What has happened to Ricky Gervais?”

On Wednesday, he shared a graphic titled “25 years of Ricky Gervais being finished… critical headlines predicting his decline” which listed various publications’ harsher reviews of his work dating all the way back to 2001, alongside a laughing emoji.

He then shared a follow-up post insisting that “word of mouth” has “really started to kick in” when it comes to Alley Cats.

“[That’s] still the best marketing there is,” he claimed. “Give it a watch if you haven’t already and see what all the fuss is about. Oh, and post a photo of your cat watching too. I like that.”

Despite the scathing reviews, when Alley Cats premiered on Netflix at the beginning of this month, it slowly ascended the platform’s chart of most-watched series, before reaching the number one spot.

At the time of writing, it has fallen out of the top 10, which currently includes the new season of Love Is Blind UK, the Harlan Coben mystery I Will Find You, and documentaries about football icon Jose Mourinho, cult leader Charles Manson and the murder of four students at an Idaho university in 2022.

Ricky has a long-standing relationship with Netflix, with whom he’s previously collaborated on the award-winning series After Life and a number of stand-up specials.