Over 100 comedians in the Vatican received by Pope Francis. Stars from all over the world responded to the Pontiff’s invitation. Someone, apparently, said no: Ricky Gervais – successful actor, director, producer – was not in the group that included planetary big names like those arriving from the United States: Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Rock, Stephen Colbert and Conan O ‘Brien. The 62-year-old English king of comedians was not there and the absence was not lost on admirers and observers. Is it possible that the champion – between TV and theater – was not invited?
The question bounces on X and Gervais responds with a tweet: “I was invited but I politely declined. It’s not really my scene.” Will it be true? Certainly, the answer is plausible if we consider the repertoire of Gervais, who as a declared atheist has often addressed the theme of religion in an irreverent way in his television appearances and in his shows, which break records at the box office and on Netflix.
His discussion in 2017 on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, one of the comedians received at the Vatican, was memorable: “Technically I am an agnostic atheist, which means I don’t know. I don’t know if a god exists. An atheist rejects the statement that a god exists You say there is a god, I ask you if you can prove it, so I don’t believe you – you believe in a god, but you deny the existence of 2999 deities, I deny only one more. Science is constantly subjected to tests. If we destroyed all the sacred books and novels, in 1000 years they would not be the same again. If we destroyed all the science books, in 1000 years they would be the same again because the the results would always be the same. I don’t need faith to know that if I jump out the window I’ll crash…”.
