‘Canceled’ Ricky Gervais Goes Into Guinness Record Book for Highest-Grossing Stand-Up Show

Despite his best efforts to get canceled, Ricky Gervais just keeps getting richer. The man whose latest comedy specials seem to exist mainly to dare audiences to throw him in comedy jail may be on to something: The more you offend, the more people will want to see what the fuss is all about. That’s one reason he recently was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for “the highest gross for a single standup performance ever.” That’s… very specific, but impressive nonetheless.

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The record was broken back in May when Gervais made a stop at the Hollywood Bowl on his megasuccessful Armageddon tour. That single show earned Gervais a jaw-dropping check for $1,790,206.50. (No word if that 50 cents was the bit of change that put him over the top.) 

While the cash must be nice, Gervais seems to be extra jazzed about his inclusion in the famous record book. “When I was little, I'd get The Guinness Book of Records for xmas every year. The whole family would read it. I think my mum would be prouder of me being in this book than anything else I've done,” he tweeted with a heart emoji as an exclamation point. Awww!

As might be expected, the Social Media Site Formerly Known As Twitter had mixed reactions to the news. Gervais’s repost of the Guinness announcement got him plenty of love on his own feed.

But on the record book’s original post, not everyone was as impressed. “Ah man, your agent paid for that bumblesquat? Sack em,” said @ScottCJonesy.

The cynical @HosemasterGnrl noted: “So, because: there are much larger venues for stand-up than the Bowl, such as stadiums; and, these venues regularly sell out, even for other stand-up comics; Then I guess kudos to Gervais for significantly raising ticket prices for comedy. Much obliged.”

Still others, like @RealFLRavensDon came with a warning: “Congrats Ricky. Enjoy while you can because Carrot Top is coming for the record.”

You weren’t one of the 17,500 to catch Gervais at the Hollywood Bowl (or anywhere else on a tour that seemingly makes him the Taylor Swift of comedy)? Netflix has your back — the streamer has already taped Armageddon shows for Gervais’s next special, an hour virtually guaranteed to get the comic “canceled” all over again.