It baffles why Gervais, a man who is clearly very smart, loves animals, has professed support for vulnerable communities and has condemned racism, homophobia and misogyny, continues to traffic in exactly that in the name of comedy.

If trans people are to be thrown to the wolves of comedy, one would hope the wolves would at least be funnier.

The problem with SuperNature, as with much comedy these days, progressive or irreverent, is that it finds itself sucked into the self-referential death spiral of the culture wars.

Everyone knows Gervais does these sorts of bits, so there’s no surprise factor in SuperNature. I hate to alarm Gervais, of whom I am a fan, but it’s possible that this new hour of standup won’t cause any protests.