NOBODY smokes anymore, but people gravitate to “unfiltered” thoughts. Ricky Gervais’ entire career has been unfiltered. He went a long way toward inventing the docudrama school of comedy with the original British version of “The Office.” There, his character David Brent fancied himself a standup comedian and bombarded his co-workers with savagely awkward commentary.
Gervais returns to unfiltered territory with “After Life,” a comedy streaming today on Netflix. In this series, Gervais’ character, Tony, decides to do and say whatever he pleases, no matter the consequences or the feelings of others. “Not caring,” he concludes, is his superpower.
It’s audacious in its small, sad way.
