F1 races are exclusively coming to Apple TV next year as part of a five-year deal announced Friday between the tech giant and Formula 1.
Apple TV subscribers in the U.S. will have access to practice, qualifying, Sprint sessions and Grands Prix footage, as well as F1 TV Premium, Formula 1’s subscription service.
Some races and practice sessions may be free for viewing on the Apple TV app. The Apple Sports app will show live updates on each Grand Prix, including real-time leaderboards, Apple said.
“2026 marks a transformative new era for Formula 1, from new teams to new regulations and cars with the best drivers in the world, and we look forward to delivering premium and innovative fan-first coverage to our customers in a way that only Apple can,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, said in a statement.
Stefano Domenicali, Formula 1’s president and CEO, said the partnership will help maximize Formula 1’s growth potential in the U.S. His company worked with Apple on “F1 The Movie,” starring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer. It was Apple’s first box office hit.
“We have a shared vision to bring this amazing sport to our fans in the U.S. and entice new fans through live broadcasts, engaging content, and a year-round approach to keep them hooked,” Domenicali said in a statement.
Apple paid roughly $140 million a year for the rights to show the races, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly. The races have been airing on ESPN since 2018 in a deal that will end this year. ESPN paid roughly $85 million per year on average, the source said. The financial terms were first reported by CNBC.
Apple and Formula 1 did not immediately return a request for comment and ESPN declined to comment on the financial terms of the deal.
“We’re incredibly proud of what we and Formula 1 accomplished together in the United States and look forward to a strong finish in this final season,” ESPN said in a statement. “We wish F1 well in the future.”
Streaming services have increasingly been airing sports on their platforms to attract more viewers who gather for major events. In addition to F1, Apple has deals to air games from Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer.
Apple also recently announced a deal to bundle Apple TV with NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock.
Truly Adams of Moreno Valley is racing Formula 4 cars in France even though he’s not old enough to obtain a driver’s license in California.
The 15-year-old freshman who’s enrolled in online classes at Epic Charter School in Corona became the first American driver to finish on the podium at the Feed Racing Volant F4 finals last month, taking third place in a field of international contenders at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, one of France’s top F1 racetracks.
Truly Adams races in the Feed Racing Volant F4 Finals in France.
(Troy Adams Coaching)
Adams is bilingual in English and Spanish and learning French to help further his desired career in racing. He’s won kart races in Spain and was the fastest driver at the Mexico F4 Series test. He’s preparing for the 2026 French Formula 4 season next year, which is the path toward being a Formula 1 driver. Entry into the series requires $300,000 in funding, so he’s seeking sponsorships and partnerships.
“I love racing cars because of the thrill of it, passing cars, getting passed, going 130 mph in the straightaway,” he said.
His father, Troy, serves as his driving coach. His mother, Kara, is his driver when he’s in Southern California. In the last year, he’s traveled throughout the United States and to France, Portugal, Spain and Italy for competitions.
“I played every sport growing up — soccer, football, basketball, golf, tennis, rugby, swimming,” he said. “I tried to play the guitar. I tried to play piano. I tried to play everything.”
He said he has begun studying for his California driving test in September of 2026.
Asked what he might tell the instructor in the car, he said, “I’ll tell him I’m a professional race car driver and do you want to go more than the speed limit?”
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
Formula One returns after the summer break and ahead of Sunday’s race day, BBC Sport’s Harry Benjamin picks his five things to look out for at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort.
Palestinian mothers in the Gaza Strip are desperately trying to feed their newborns as Israel’s punishing blockade on the besieged enclave has led to dire shortages of infant formula, with some resorting to filling bottles with water and whatever food they can find.
Dr Kahlil Daqran told Al Jazeera on Thursday that as supplies of formula run out, many mothers are often too malnourished to breastfeed their infants.
“In the Gaza Strip, we have thousands of children being starved because there is no milk for children under the age of two,” Daqran said.
“These children, their mothers also have malnutrition because there is no food, so the mothers cannot produce milk. Now, our children are being fed either water or ground hard legumes, and this is harmful for children in Gaza.”
Azhar Imad, 31, said she has mixed tahini with water in hopes of feeding four-month-old Joury. But she said she fears the mixture will make her baby sick.
“I am using this paste instead of milk, but she won’t drink it. All these can cause illnesses,” Imad said. “Sometimes, I give her water in the bottle; there’s nothing available. I make her caraway and herbs, any kind of herbs.”
Israel’s blockade on Gaza, which has been under Israeli military bombardment since October 2023, has led to critical shortages of food, water, medicine and other humanitarian supplies.
Local hospitals said on Thursday that at least two more deaths from Israel’s forced starvation were reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of hunger-related fatalities since Israel’s war began to 159, including 90 children.
The United Nations has warned that Palestinian children are especially vulnerable as hunger grips the coastal territory, and UN officials have repeatedly called on Israel to allow an uninterrupted flow of aid supplies.
Israel has blamed the UN for the starvation crisis unfolding in the Gaza Strip, saying the global body had failed to pick up supplies.
UN officials, and several nations, have rejected that claim as false and stressed that Israel has refused to offer safe routes for humanitarian agencies to transport aid into Gaza.
Airdrops of humanitarian supplies, carried out in recent days, have also done little to address the widespread hunger crisis. Experts denounced the effort as dangerous, costly and ineffective.
Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, told reporters on Thursday that the UN and its partners “continue to seize every opportunity to collect supplies from the Israeli-controlled crossings and replenish those platforms with new supplies”.
“Our colleagues say that, despite Israeli announcements regarding the designation of convoy routes as secure, trucks continue to face long delays that expose drivers, aid workers, and crowds to danger,” Haq said.
“The long waits are because a single route has been made available for our teams exiting Kerem Shalom [Karem Abu Salem crossing] inside Gaza, and Israeli ground forces have set up an ad hoc checkpoint on that route.”
As starvation continues to grip Gaza, more Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while seeking aid at distribution sites operated by the controversial Israeli- and United States-backed GHF.
A source at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital told Al Jazeera that at least 23 people were killed after Israeli forces opened fire at them on Thursday morning as they waited for aid near Netzarim junction in central Gaza.
The deadly incident came just hours before the White House announced that US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee are expected to enter Gaza on Friday to inspect the aid distribution sites.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the US officials also would meet with Palestinians to “hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground”.
Reporting from the Jordan capital, Amman, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh explained that the trip comes amid growing concern in Washington that US contractors may be found liable for the deaths of more than 1,000 Palestinians killed while trying to reach GHF sites since May.
“There is a lot of pressure and insistence in Israel that those sites must continue to operate even if Israel allows more aid into Gaza,” Odeh said.
“This organisation was set up to bypass the United Nations, and Israel is not ready to let it go despite the resistance from the international community to engage with it in any way because it is accused of violating humanitarian principles.”
Hamas said in a statement released via its Telegram channel late on Thursday that it is ready to “immediately” engage in negotiations to end the war in Gaza “once aid reaches those who deserve it and the humanitarian crisis and famine in Gaza are ended”.
Nehma Hamouda said she has struggled to keep her three-month-old granddaughter, Muntaha, alive amid the shortage of infant formula.
Muntaha’s mother was shot by Israeli soldiers when she was pregnant. She gave birth to her daughter prematurely but died weeks later.
“I resort to tea for the girl,” said Hamouda, explaining that her granddaughter cannot process solid foods yet.
“She’s not eating, and there’s no sugar. Where can I get her sugar? I give her a bit [of anise], and she drinks a bit,” she said. “At times, when we get lentil soup from the soup kitchen, I strain the water, and I try to feed her. What can I do?”
The move constitutes an expression of faith in Vasseur’s leadership after the first hitch this year in progress under him.
Vasseur was appointed after Ferrari removed his predecessor Mattia Binotto, following a 2022 season which the team started as the fastest on the grid but saw their title challenge collapse through poor reliability, stuttering car development compared to rivals Red Bull and operational failings.
Bequeathed a difficult car at the start of 2023, Vasseur led a turnaround to the point that Ferrari were the only team to win a race other than Red Bull that season, with Carlos Sainz in Singapore.
Last year, after a slow start, they came on strong in the second part of the season and narrowly missed out on beating McLaren to the constructors’ title.
It was McLaren’s first such triumph since 1998; it would have been Ferrari’s since 2008.
Vasseur was also instrumental in Ferrari signing seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton over the winter of 2023-24 to join Charles Leclerc in their driver line-up starting from this season.
However, expecting to progress and fight for both titles in 2025, Ferrari have struggled this season.
Hamilton won the sprint race in China, the second race of the season, from pole position, but has scored no grand prix podium positions.
Leclerc has five, his best result a second place in Monaco.
Ferrari are second in the constructors’ championship, 268 points behind McLaren and 28 ahead of Mercedes in third.
Leclerc and Hamilton are fifth and sixth in the drivers’ championship, behind the leading drivers for the Red Bull and Mercedes teams, Max Verstappen and George Russell, both of whom have won at least one race.
F1 launched its sustainability strategy in 2019 with a long-term commitment to reduce carbon emissions in areas like travel, logistics, and energy use.
Changing the now 24-race calendar, so grands prix are grouped together by region to reduce travel, has also helped F1 in its quest for greater sustainability, with Japan moving to an April slot and Azerbaijan twinning with Singapore in the autumn since the 2024 season.
Team factories are now using more green energy such as wind and solar power, resulting in a 59% reduction in emissions from these facilities compared to seven years ago.
Other initiatives that have contributed include F1 expanding the use of biofuel trucks for transporting freight in Europe, which reduced related carbon emissions by an average of 83%.
From the 2026 season and beyond, F1 is introducing new regulations that will feature environmentally friendly cars with engines that have a near 50-50 split between electric and internal combustion power – and use fully sustainable fuels.
To further improve the flow of the calendar, Canada switches to an earlier date in May, followed by a run of nine European races, starting with Monaco in June and ending with the new Madrid Grand Prix in September.
“Formula 1 has always been synonymous with innovation and the desire to improve,” added Domenicali.
“Once again, this mentality has allowed us to make important progress, not only for those who work in this world, but also for society as a whole.
“While continuing to grow globally, we have shown that sustainable development is possible and that the strategies we have adopted are yielding tangible results.”
The report said any remaining unavoidable emissions in 2030 “will be offset using credible programmes in line with latest best practice guidance”.
Carbon offset programs typically help to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by supporting projects which reduce environmental harm, such as tree planting schemes.
England fans may had doubt but they did not show it at Stadion Letzigrund as those behind the goal to Wiegman’s right sang her name as they trailed 2-0.
When things eventually started going to plan, England still relied on plenty of luck.
The ball didn’t quite drop for Sweden on set-pieces, and as extra time wore on, momentum felt like it was with England.
But in the shootout, it was Sweden’s game to win. They had two chances to seal victory with penalties of their own and managed to squander both.
Sweden goalkeeper Falk wasted the first opportunity, blasting the ball over the crossbar, before Hampton dived low to save Jakobsson’s spot-kick.
As Sweden’s senior players missed their opportunities, England’s most experienced was ready to take her moment.
It was fitting that 33-year-old Bronze, playing in her seventh major tournament, delivered when it mattered.
Someone who epitomises England’s resilience, she stepped up, took a deep breath and thumped her penalty into the roof of the net.
A roar erupted from Bronze as she looked at the supporters behind the goal, ripping off tape – that she had put on herself during the match – in the process.
Around half an hour earlier, she had kicked the hoardings behind the same net – a release of emotion as she kickstarted England’s comeback.
“Lucy was chaotic in herself, right? There was a lot going on with her. She became a physio, she became a striker, she nailed the best penalty of the day,” said team-mate Mead.
“I think Lucy really showed her experience in those moments. She’s our most experienced England player and I think she was one of the players that very much got the determination out of us all today.”
Having failed to convert four penalties, Wiegman admitted she was “really concerned” that England were heading out.
But it was fitting that Bronze helped carry her team over the line.
“She is just one of a kind. I have never seen this before in my life. I have worked with so many incredible football players but what she does and her mentality,” said Wiegman.
“The penalty, the goal – that is not what defines her. What defines her is that resilience, that fight. The only way to get her off the pitch is in a wheelchair.”
The first thing you notice in Jerry Bruckheimer’s Santa Monica office isn’t the full-size suit of armor from 2004’s “King Arthur” or the shelves lined with awards and celebrity photos. It’s the pens: dozens of ornate Montblancs, carefully arranged in display cases.
His wife gives them to him, Bruckheimer explains dryly. After nearly half a century of hits, what do you give the guy who has everything? “I sometimes write thank-you notes with them,” he says. Alongside neatly stacked copies of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times — which he says he still reads daily, in print — the pens reflect something ingrained in the legendary producer, a fondness for ritual, precision and old-school order.
Now 81, at an age when most of his peers are content to reflect on past glories in between tee times and early-bird specials, Bruckheimer still starts each day with a rigorous workout. (“I pick hotels based on the gym,” he says.) Then it’s back to doing what he’s always done: assembling the next blockbuster. Across more than 50 films — including culture-shaping hits like “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Top Gun,” “Bad Boys,” “The Rock,” “Armageddon” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” — his work has earned over $16 billion worldwide, cementing his name as shorthand for sleek, pulse-pounding entertainment. His elegant, brick-walled office, larger than the Detroit home where his working-class German immigrant parents raised him, stands as a monument to what that discipline helped build. “Our tiny little house was about as big as this room here,” he says, glancing around.
For Bruckheimer, success has never been about flash or chance. “The harder you work,” he says, in what amounts to a personal mantra, “the luckier you get.”
That philosophy is on full display in his latest production, “F1,” an adrenaline-fueled racing drama starring Brad Pitt as a retired Formula One driver lured back to the track to mentor a young phenom (Damson Idris) on a struggling team. Shot during actual Formula One races across Europe and the Middle East, and with a budget north of $200 million, “F1” speeds into theaters Friday with the kind of high-stakes ambition only someone with Bruckheimer’s track record could pull off.
Damson Idris, left, and Brad Pitt in the movie “F1.”
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
From the outset, the project, which reunites Bruckheimer with “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski and screenwriter Ehren Kruger, sparked a bidding war among virtually every studio and streamer, ultimately landing as a co-production between Apple and Warner Bros.
“One of the reasons I went to Jerry,” says Kosinski by phone from his car, “is because I knew I was asking two massive corporations — Apple and Formula One — to work together. They’re both incredibly specific about their brands and how they do things. It took someone with Jerry’s CEO style of producing to be the diplomat in the middle and actually make it happen. He’s seen it all.”
Bruckheimer attributes the early frenzy around the project to the package’s pedigree: an appealing story, an A-list star and the global popularity of Formula One. But for Bruckheimer, it’s not just about star power or scale. “It’s emotional, it’s exciting, it’s got romance, it’s got humor,” he says. “It’s the reason I got into this business — to make movies that thrill you on that big screen, that you walk out feeling you’ve been on a real journey and got lost for a couple of hours. That’s the goal every time.”
Pitt’s character, Sonny, is in some ways a reflection of Bruckheimer: a seasoned pro forever chasing one more victory out of a sheer love of the chase. “Jerry could easily be on an island somewhere relaxing,” says Kosinski. “But he’d much rather be on set every day, meeting actors, hassling the marketing team, dealing with the studio. He just loves the job. His passion for it seems kind of endless.”
“F1” arrives at a moment when the Bruckheimer-style movie — star-driven, high-concept, engineered for maximum emotional impact — has surged back into fashion. In truth, it never entirely disappeared. But in an age of franchise fatigue, ironic tentpoles and streaming saturation, the earnest, four-quadrant spectacle had started to feel like a relic — until “Maverick” reminded Hollywood how potent that formula could still be.
The 2022 sequel didn’t just help bring moviegoing back to life after the pandemic; it earned Bruckheimer his first best picture Oscar nomination and raked in a staggering $1.5 billion worldwide. Even he didn’t see that coming.
“The early tracking said that you’re not going to get young people — nobody under 35 or 40 cares about this movie,” he remembers. “It ended up surpassing every possible metric. Anybody who tells you they know what’s going to be a hit, they don’t have a clue. You just don’t know.”
Tom Cruise in a scene from “Top Gun: Maverick”
(Paramount Pictures)
“F1” is not Bruckheimer’s first time around the racing track. Thirty-five years ago, at the height of his era-defining run with his late producing partner Don Simpson, he made “Days of Thunder,” a testosterone-fueled NASCAR drama that reunited the “Top Gun” team of Tom Cruise and director Tony Scott. The film epitomized the Bruckheimer-Simpson formula: glossy visuals, radio-ready soundtracks and MTV-style swagger. Tales of ballooning costs, nonstop rewrites, off-screen indulgence and on-set clashes swirled around the production, becoming the stuff of Hollywood lore.
Asked about the chaos surrounding “Days of Thunder,” Bruckheimer answers with his trademark restraint, the measured calm of someone who has spent decades managing egos, headlines and costly productions.
“There were definitely rewrites — that’s true,” he says. “As far as the budget going up, Paramount had a strict regime, and it’s not like you could go over budget easily. We wrecked a lot of cars, I’ll tell you that. I don’t think there was one standing at the end.”
Bruckheimer remembers the shoot as tough but exhilarating, a product of Scott’s notoriously seat-of-the-pants directing style. “Tony was just balls to the wall,” he says. “Joe [Kosinski] is balls to the wall too, but calculated. Joe’s got everything planned out. Tony would get on the set and see something over there and say, ‘We’re changing it, we’re going over there.’ It was a little more of a helter-skelter approach, but we somehow got through it. We held it together.”
By the time “Days of Thunder” was released in 1990, Bruckheimer and Simpson had spent nearly a decade together — a combustible but wildly productive run that had already delivered “Flashdance,” “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Top Gun.” Simpson, with his insatiable appetite for drugs and Hollywood excess, could be volatile and self-destructive. But Bruckheimer credits him with sharpening his eye for story and deepening his understanding of how the business really worked.
“I started in commercials — little 60-second stories — and Don was trained as a story executive,” says Bruckheimer, who began his career in advertising in Detroit and New York. “He was developing 120 projects every year so he knew every writer, every director. He had this great wealth of knowledge about the business: who’s good, who’s not good, who can talk a good game but can’t deliver. He was great with story and humor. He just was a genius at all this kind of stuff.”
The partnership was a crash course for them both: an informal academy with a class roster of two. “I went to school during those years — and so did he,” Bruckheimer says. “He didn’t know how to make a movie. He was an executive, so when he walked on set, all he really knew was not to stand in front of the camera. I picked up a lot of what he knew — and vice versa.”
“I’m sure I’ll be remembered somewhere along there — maybe not, maybe yes,” Bruckheimer says, reticent to dwell on legacy. “I’m still working picture to picture.”
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
If Simpson was the explosive, sometimes erratic half of the duo, Bruckheimer was always the steady one: disciplined, controlled, methodical. He’s known for rarely raising his voice. But he admits even he has limits. “I try not to,” he says. “I usually don’t. But when people lie to you, when they say something’s going to be there and it’s not and they keep giving you a bunch of bulls—, yeah, you can raise your voice a little.”
Following “Days of Thunder,” Simpson and Bruckheimer would go on to make several more hits, including “Dangerous Minds,” “Crimson Tide” and “The Rock” before Simpson’s death in 1996 at age 52 from heart failure related to drug use. “It’s unfortunate that we lost him,” Bruckheimer says softly.
After decades in the business, Bruckheimer says he has learned to choose collaborators carefully. “Life’s too short,” he offers. “We’re such a small business, your reputation follows you everywhere you go.”
When his team hires a director or an actor, he says, they always do their research. “How were they on their last movie? Brad has a phenomenal reputation. Will Smith has a phenomenal reputation — minus that,” he adds, discreetly alluding to the 2022 Oscars slap. “Tom Cruise too. I’ve worked with actors who just want to know when they can leave. I try to avoid that.”
The landscape of Hollywood, of course, looks nothing like it did during the ’90s Simpson-Bruckheimer heyday. Studios that once ran on instinct and big personalities now operate more like data-driven conglomerates, reshuffling execs and hedging bets in a fractured, streaming-dominated market.
“It’s changed a lot,” Bruckheimer says. “Streaming hit a lot of places hard. They spent too much money and now they’ve got problems with that. Some of the studios aren’t healthy. But the business, if you do it right, is healthy.”
For all the hand-wringing about collapse, Bruckheimer has heard it before.
“There always was doom,” he says. “When TV came in, people said nobody would go to the theaters again. When I started, it was video cassettes. Everyone said that’s the end. Then DVDs — that’s the end. I’ve been doing this over 50 years and that doom has been there every time a new technology shows up. And yet, look at what’s happened. Look at ‘Minecraft.’ Look at ‘Sinners.’ Look at ‘Lilo & Stitch.’ If you do it right, people show up.”
He reaches for one of his favorite analogies: “You’ve got a kitchen at home, right? But you still like to go out to eat. You want to taste something different. That’s what we are. We’re the night out,” he says. “And if we give you a good meal, you’ll come back for more.”
By any measure, Bruckheimer has already accomplished more than almost anyone in the business, with a far-reaching empire that spans television (“CSI,” “The Amazing Race”), video games and sports. In addition to big-budget tentpoles, he has occasionally championed more grounded, character-driven fare, from “Dangerous Minds” and “Black Hawk Down” to the recent Disney+ biopic “Young Woman and the Sea.” But for all his success, he has never stopped looking for the next story. A new “Top Gun” script is underway. “Days of Thunder” may get another lap. Even “Pirates of the Caribbean” is back in motion.
Bruckheimer ultimately credits the directors and actors — and the tight-knit team at his company — with keeping him in the game. “I’m just the guy who says, ‘You’re really talented. I want to work with you.’ ”
Even as a kid, he says, that was his gift. “I can’t focus the way a director or writer focuses — I’m too ADD. But I always put things together. I put together a baseball team and a hockey team when I was very young. I always had the ability to gather people around a common cause.”
As for thoughts of his legacy, he demurs. “I’m sure I’ll be remembered somewhere along there — maybe not, maybe yes,” he says. “I’m still working picture to picture. You’re only as good as your last movie. So you better be on your toes.”
Ricky Gervais is living his best life right now. Even when he’s busy talking about death. On Saturday his new tour, Mortality, arrives at the Hollywood Bowl, where thousands will hear him tackle hilariously macabre commentary about life — and the end of it — through his signature blend of dark humor, empathy and razor-sharp commentary. His last appearance at the Bowl in 2023 with Armageddon earned him a Guinness World Record for the highest-grossing single stand-up performance — so, no pressure.
Gervais is also known for turning awkward pauses and brutal honesty into comedy gold, so it’s only fitting that after such a long career full of accolades that he would also finally earn a coveted spot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday. As Hollywood honors the man who’s roasted its elite with such precision, to be roasted for eternity by the Hollywood sun sounds fitting.
It’s not all about receiving: Giving back matters to Gervais and he’s doing that by helping spotlight the next wave of comedic talent through the Spirit of Comedy — a U.K. stand-up contest presented by Dutch Barn Vodka, which he happens to co-own. With a star on the Walk of Fame, a massive show at the Bowl, and a platform for rising comics, Gervais is fully owning his Hollywood moment. But he needs to be home by 6 p.m.
You’ve spent your career pushing comedy boundaries, has there ever been a moment where you thought, “Oh yeah, I’m going to have to defend this one?”
Oh no, it all comes and goes. It’s cyclic. People get nervous and that’s just always been there from day one. People get worried and then I say, well, this is why it’s OK. Sometimes it’s an executive producer or a broadcaster who just wants some ammunition to defend it. Because sometimes, they don’t know whether it’s OK or not, they just don’t want to get complaints. If I can go “listen, this is why it’s OK,” then they often trust me because I can defend it. It’s not me sitting in the room going, “what’s the most offensive thing I could say to get the BBC burned down?” There’s always a point to it. Offense often comes from people mistaking the subject of a joke with the actual target, and they’re not usually the same.
It sometimes feels like comedians, whose job it is to joke, are being held to a higher standard when it comes to what is “offensive.”
We’re human, so we react to buzzwords and we’re cautious of taboo subjects. That’s why they’re still taboo, because we’re cautious of them. I do that on purpose as well, particularly with my stand-up where I talk about contentious issues and taboo subjects because I do want to take the audience to a place they haven’t been before. I do want them to reflect on it, worry about it, think about it and then, I’ve got to misdirect them. It’s like I take them by the hand through a scary forest but it’s OK because they always laugh. If I were going out there and saying things that were really offensive, and no one was laughing, well, that would be odd. That’s what politicians do. Politicians say awful things and they mean it, and no one laughs. Comedians say things they don’t mean, everyone laughs and they get the same treatment.
But you have to have free speech, and there’s nothing you could say that someone somewhere won’t be offended by. It’s impossible so you shouldn’t even try. I don’t go out there and try to ruin the audience’s evening, I go out there and I make a joke and it’s crafted. We’re human though and we take things personally, but you shouldn’t because I think comedy is best as an intellectual pursuit.
“Comedy is best as an intellectual pursuit” sums you up because you’re not careless. There’s a formula to it all.
Exactly. You should go “well, that’s a bad subject and I don’t agree with the punchline, but does it work comedically?” It’s a magic trick. It is a formula. You can’t argue with chemistry. No one goes, well, I know I laughed, but I don’t agree with it. Well, it did what it does. That’s the joke and I’m not gonna change the joke or meaning. I think the only form of censorship, as an audience, is your right not to listen. You just don’t have to watch. You can leave, not buy my stuff, not buy my tickets, and that’s absolutely fine.
You can turn your own TV off, but what you can’t do is make other people turn their TV off. That’s the difference. And then, people will complain about something you’re doing in the privacy of your own home, even if they have to go up to their attic and stand on a stepladder and look through binoculars to see it. They will find it. People sometimes seek out the offense and that’s actually where people can get addicted to being offended. They like it, it makes them feel alive. The news even picks up Twitter! They say, “Oh, fans weren’t happy!” Three fans weren’t happy.
“I don’t go out there and try to ruin the audience’s evening, I go out there and I make a joke and it’s crafted,” Gervais said. “We’re human though and we take things personally, but you shouldn’t because I think comedy is best as an intellectual pursuit.”
(Andy Hollingworth)
Tweets making headlines is why we can’t have nice things. I wanted to ask about the Spirit of Comedy contest, where the winner gets to open for you at OVO Arena Wembley. How did all of this happen?
I know, it’s mad! I’ve never done anything like this before and I’ve turned down loads of things, but this co-ownership with [the show’s sponsor] Dutch Barn Vodka is different. When we met, we first bonded about the company being really ethical. It was sustainable, it was recyclable, they used British apples, they were vegan, they paid their workers really well—they were really trying to be good, and I like that. They said they wanted me to make it famous, make it a global brand, and that I could do the advertising, which really interested me. I do all of my own trailers, I write all my own stuff, so that was exciting creatively. What a great nut to crack.
The business side of it sort of came last, but it all made sense too. The main thing about it was I felt I could sleep at night, and I could still have fun. That’s all I really cared about. The contest was actually all Dutch Barn’s idea and when they were asked about the contest they said something like, “Well, we know Ricky’s not going to last forever.” Maybe they’re finding my replacement? How cruel and ironic would that be?
Well, at least you can go down knowing you broke a record at the Hollywood Bowl.
Yes! It was two years ago, and I just put out a tweet because it broke the record for a single gig. I don’t know why I’m doing it again. I did it once, it was frightening, I broke the world record and it was great. Why would I do it again?
Ricky Gervais speaks at the 77th Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 5, 2020, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.
(Associated Press)
Because we love you in L.A. and it’s been too long. That’s why.
I haven’t been avoiding it, it’s just a long way so I try to do as much as I can while I’m there. I sort of work out of London now and also, it gets harder with jet lag. I’m 63! Jet lag lasts about a week now! Everything is worse, isn’t it? I’m offered really cool things every day, flying around the world and I just think, is it better than me sitting on the couch with my cat and my girlfriend watching Netflix? No. It has nothing to do with anything else other than how valuable your time is and how you wanna spend it.
Is that why you named your tour “Mortality”? Are you planning?
Sort of. There’s a joke in there where I sort of talk about getting old, looking back and all the things that are going wrong which are funny. The reason I started doing one word, sort of academic-style titles, was that I was sarcastically making fun of the pomposity of some comedians who think they’re doing lectures. That’s where it started when I was pricking that bubble of comedians who think they’re changing the world. I’ve kept up the one-word thing, but also, mortality, it’s a scary subject so already the audience is going, is Mortality gonna be funny? Yeah, it’s funny! I’m the one dying. Sit back and laugh.
From sitting to kneeling, it’s fitting — and a bit ironic — that someone who roasted Hollywood so memorably is now being cemented into its history with a star on the Walk of Fame.
Well, that’s funny because the first time they told me I got it I said, “Oh? Do I have to get down on all fours on the concrete? I’ll never get up! I’ve also got bad skin!” I had all of those thoughts, but I’m doing it the day before the Hollywood Bowl so I can kill two birds with one stone. It’s all about getting home on the couch by 6 p.m. This life, you know what I mean?
You started kind of late, but you did earn this comfortable life. And maybe 6 p.m. is the new midnight.
When I grew up, I was good at school, I went to college, then I was a failed pop star, and I never had money. Really, I never had any money. I think I was about 37 years old when I started doing this, and I just grabbed a hold of it. I thought, this is a really lucky second bite of the cherry. You better not screw this one up. So, I did work really hard, but in saying that, what does this sound like? “I work really hard in a room writing while drinking cappuccino.” Some people are hiding behind a wall getting shot at! My dad was a laborer for 60 years! It’s funny to say that, because now, I’m glad I was born poor. It’s not something that I talk about much, but I am sort of proud of myself. I didn’t have a penny, and no one gave me anything. It might be luck, but I still feel like I beat the system.
THE SECRET ingredients to the perfect Eurovision song have been revealed and it might be bad news for the UK’s act.
As various European countries go head-to-head tonight, a leading betting company has revealed that winning Eurovision songs always have three key traits.
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Country girl group Remember Monday will be representing Britain at the 2025 contestCredit: BBC
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Nemo won the 2024 competition, meaning Switzerland will host the 2025 competitionCredit: Reuters
Sport Betting Online found that the first of the three factors relates to whether the song is written in a minor or a major key; minor keys often sound sadder, where major keys tend to sound happier and more joyful.
The final factor relates to language, as ten of the last 15 winning songs were written in English.
Despite that advantage, the UK act has the odds stacked against them – according to exclusive information from Sports Betting online.
Remember Monday’s track is written in a major key and has an average BPM rate of 136.
A spokesperson from the betting company said: “Remember Monday’s entry brings a vibrant and relatable energy to Eurovision 2025.
“Their harmonious vocals and genre-blending style align with several successful trends.
“However, the song’s major key and humorous theme might set it apart from the emotionally intense entries that have recently won.
“If audiences are ready for something fun and feel-good, the UK may have a dark horse on its hands.”
Eurovision fans spot moment winner Nemo suffers huge fail and breaks trophy
Despite the track bucking several winning trends, Remember Monday’s song was well-received when they took to the stage on Thursday.
Fans could be heard cheering throughout the trio’s performance, while singing along to What the Hell Just Happened’s catchy lyrics.
Brits loved the track too, with one writing on social media: “Remember Monday could WIN THIS WHOLE THING. INCREDIBLE. Perfection in the arena!”
UK fans can only hope that its broad appeal – with country aesthetics being on trend and English being the language of most winning songs – will take the trio to a win.
Sports Betting Online also analysed the frontrunners at this year’s singing competition, though, and one group is set to take the contest by storm.
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Finnish band KAJ will be representing Sweden at Eurovision
Sweden’s Bara Badu Batsu – performed by KAJ – has an average BPM of 106 and is written in the minor key, specifically A Minor.
The track is sung in Swedish with Finnish phrases, which does buck the trend of winning songs being in English.
However, experts think this may work in the trio’s favour – just a singing in Italian took Maneskin to a win.
Following close behind is Austria’s JJ who will be singing a track entitled Wasted Love.
This track has 133 BPM, which is much faster than the average winning BPM, but is written in a minor key.
It is also sung in English, which normally broadens a song’s appeal at the competition.
The final frontrunner is France’s Louane, whose track was recorded at 88 BPM and is sung in the singer’s native language.
Her heartbreaking song is entitled Maman – the French word for “mother”.
With all of the data considered, the competition is Sweden’s to lose.
The contest will kick off on May 13, 2025, in Basel, Switzerland, before ending on May 17.
Last year’s winning artist Nemo will be performing their track – entitled The Code – at the finale.
However, not every country in Europe will be appearing at the competition.
Russia has been banned from competing due to controversies surrounding the invasion of Ukraine.
Other countries, including Bulgaria and Romania, have pulled out due to funding problems.
Israel has confirmed that it will be competing at Eurovision 2025, despite an open letter – signed by several former winners – urging judges to ban the country from the contest.
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Austrian singer JJ is projected to come in second placeCredit: AFP
