Ricky Gervais doesn't think any subject should be off-limits in comedy. “I think a lot of this pious offense comes from people mistaking the target of the joke with the subject. You can joke about anything, but it depends on what the actual target is.”
The pandemic changed Ricky Gervais’s morning routines. The comedian and director, 60, wakes up at 7:30 a.m., two hours earlier than he used to. He drinks coffee, checks his emails and eats breakfast with his partner, author Jane Fallon.
The couple is out of the house by quarter to 9 for their daily hour-long walk around Hampstead Heath, the grassy woodland park in London. It’s another habit they started during the pandemic. “We do it for exercise to get our steps up,” he says. “We’re slaves to our FitBits, but it’s also to meet dogs.” Gervais estimates that he knows 200 dogs by name at this point. Getting to pet a handful of them sets him up for a successful rest of the day.