Ricky Gervais never sets out to deliberately 'offend' his audiences

Ricky Gervais never sets out to deliberately "offend" his audiences.

The 65-year-old comedian is known for his controversial gags in his stand-up shows and he has now finally addressed the long-running "myth" which suggested he chooses material he knows will make some people angry - declaring he doesn't "care" if some audience members get riled up by his jokes.

During an appearance on BBC Radio 2, Ricky explained: "I don’t tell people not to be offended; I tell them I don’t care if they are. Be offended if you want, it makes it funnier for me.

"You can’t help by what you’re offended by, but … don’t expect me to care … It’s a myth that I go out to offend. I never go out to offend. I just know that it’s probably going to happen because everyone’s different."

Ricky added: "There’s nothing you can say, particularly anything that’s mildly interesting or contentious or your viewpoint, that someone somewhere won’t find offensive.

"And times have changed. Twenty years ago, if someone said I was offended by that, I probably would go: 'Why?' Now I go … 'I know you are. Everyone is'."

Ricky went on to insist he's going to be changing his style for his next tour - vowing not to address topics such as cancel culture or freedom of speech in his new shows.

He said: "I’ve dealt with it too much, actually. I think the last couple of tours, I have dealt with cancel culture and free speech because I felt I had to. Now, I don’t have to.

"I’m ignoring it all. I shouldn’t even bring it into the room. Those people there who’ve paid hundreds of pounds - they’re not offended. I can play to a million people, not one complaint.

"As soon as it goes on Netflix, 50 million people. Of course, there’s going to be someone who doesn’t like it. What am I going to do? It’s too late. I’ve been paid."