Ricky Gervais has joked that audiences he has reported his fans for "hate crimes" after they laughed at the more inappropriate parts of his new stand-up show.
The British comedian is known for pushing the limits of what is and isn't acceptable to laugh about.
Most recently, he courted controversy with his stand-up show Super Nature, which many people slammed for containing what they considered to be transphobic comments.
Despite the backlash, Gervais has shown no signs of slowing down and plowed ahead to test out new material for his upcoming show, Armageddon.
He previously admitted that he'd be pushing the limits further than ever before in his new show, saying that he wants to "try to get canceled."
"I’m treating it like it’s my last one ever. It won’t be, but I want to put everything into it. I want to try and get canceled. No, I just want to go all-out there," the 60-year-old comedian told Heat magazine earlier this year.
Last night, he took to the stage at Leicester Square Theater in London to try out some of the controversial new jokes he's been working on. From his review of the evening, the audience had a strong reaction to his material - even the ones that they perhaps shouldn't have found so funny.
"Another amazing audience at @lsqtheatre for my #Armageddon new material night," the Office creator tweeted yesterday (June 8).
"They laughed at things that shouldn’t be laughed at and I have reported them all for hate crimes. I’ll do more soon," he added.
Gervais' comments about being "reported" over controversial jokes come in the wake of criticism that his most recent comedy special Super Nature contained inappropriate gags.
Many viewers took to Twitter to denounce the comedian for referring to "old-fashioned women" as "the ones with wombs", and joking that he would transition into a woman called "Vicky Gervais".
LGBT+ rights group GLAAD slammed the comic and branded the show "dangerous", "anti-gay" and "anti-trans".
"It’s full of graphic, dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes," they wrote on Twitter, adding: "He also spouts anti-gay rhetoric & spreads inaccurate information about HIV."
Gervais, meanwhile, defended his "taboo" jokes, saying: "I deal in taboo subjects because I want to take the audience to a place it hasn’t been before, even for a split second. Most offense comes from when people mistake the subject of a joke with the actual target."