Actor and comedian Ricky Gervais teamed up with Netlfix and released After Life back in March of 2019. The story of a widower, we see Tony (Gervais) try to get on with life after his wife Lisa died from cancer. Tony is filled with pain and is dealing with his grief in the form of anger.
Normally a funny man (according to his deceased wife), Tony hilariously spews insults left and right. His cruel words seem offputting to the people he’s throwing them at but they’re absolutely entertaining for viewers. Keep scrolling to see 10 of Tony’s best insults.
“Hardly Scarred For Life. She’s 93. If She Lives To 100 She’s Only Going To Be Scarred For 77% Of Her Life”
In the first episode, Tony is leaving his rather useless therapy appointment when he runs into a woman looking at the front page of a newspaper. The newspaper reads “Woman 93 Mugged.” The woman sees Tony coming along and mentions that the poor woman is scarred for life after being mugged.
Instead of acting like a caring individual, Tony explains that due to the woman’s advanced age, being scarred for life isn’t a big deal for her, insinuating that she’ll probably be dead in less than 10 years. She’ll only be scarred for “77% of her life,” as he hilariously chips in.
“Please, Don’t Get Up…”
Also in the first episode, Tony is annoyed with himself after he forgets to buy his dog Brandy her food. He stops by the grocery store and doesn’t even know where the pet food aisle is. He sees a store employee sitting on the ground and asks her where he can find the dog food. “By the cat food” she replies.
He’s hilariously thrown off by this comment and the entire interaction. She eventually lets him know the pet food is in aisle two but before he leaves he says “Cheers, don’t get up,” joking at the fact that she seemed less than eager to help him.
“I’m An Escaped Lunatic and I like Murdering Little Fat Kids Like You”
We meet Tony’s nephew George in the second episode when he babysits him for an afternoon. He’s adorably sweet and clearly cares about his uncle. Throughout the first season, Tony passes by Geroge’s school where he says hi to him at recess. But in the fifth episode, George looked upset.
As it turns out, Robbie—the school’s bully—pushed George and was rather mean to him. Being the protective uncle Tony is, he pulls Robbie aside and threatens him with a hammer and introduces himself as a psychotic murderer. The scene is obviously hilarious because of how deranged Tony is acting and how out of control this interaction got.
“It’s The Sight Of Him Slurping It Up Like A Fat F***ing Labrador”
Throughout season one of After Life, we see Tony and his photographer Lenny go to various houses for interviews for the local paper. Every interview seems utterly pointless to Tony and he always ends up making a joke out of what makes other people happy. In one particularly odd interview, we meet a woman who is creating small dishes out of her own breastmilk.
Tony, in particular, is put off by the thought of drinking another woman’s breastmilk but Lenny goes in for the kill and begins slurping the rice pudding. The sound of Lenny enjoying this woman’s breastmilk-themed cuisine makes Tony gag and call him a “labrador.”
“Could You Do Carpool Kamikaze?”
To be fair, Tony’s co-workers are absolutely brilliant. Sandy is new but she is sweet and caring, Lenny obviously enjoys the simple pleasures in life, and Kath seems obsessed with the media and always has ideas for the paper. However, Tony is grieving from the death of his wife and finds Kath (the paper’s lead advertiser) boring and obnoxious.
In one scene, Kath comes over to Tony, Sandy, and Lenny, and asks who they would invite to a fantasy dinner. Kath’s number one guest is James Corden, hoping to do Carpool Karaoke with him. Tony—who looks like he’s about to blow his brains out—dryly says “Could you do Carpool Kamazi” to get Kath to leave.
“Go To The Doctor, You Definitely Have Bowel Cancer.”
Tony and Lenny are often seen going to different people’s houses in the city doing interviews for the paper. As Tony and Lenny are arriving at the first house in episode one, Lenny appears to have farted, which sends Tony into a fit of insults directed at him.
He even insinuates that Lenny has “bowel cancer” due to how badly his fart smelled! When the person opened the door, Tony wouldn’t even let Lenny inside. He insisted he stayed outside to cool off before coming in.
“You Got Any Money?” “No.” “Loser.”
How adorable is Tony’s nephew George! He’s so young and sweet and obviously cares about the wellbeing of his uncle even though he’s just a child.
When Matt (Tony’s boss and brother-in-law) asks Tony to babysit George for an afternoon, he takes him to the cafe to get some food. On the way out the door, Tony throws back a scotch and asks George if he had any money for the cafe. When George adorably says no, Tony chimes in “loser” and the duo are out the door.
“Of course You Would, You Look Like F***ing Shrek.”
In the third episode, Tony and Lenny head over to a man’s house who believes the water stain on his wall looks identical to Sir Kenneth Branagh. On the walk home, the two men are talking about it when Lenny says he wouldn’t mind looking like Kenneth Branagh.
Tony quickly retorts that of course he would like to look like anyone else because he looks like “f*cking Shrek.” Luckily, Lenny takes most of Tony’s insults with a grain of salt.
“Hi, I’m Tony. I Don’t Want To Appear Ageist But Are Those Your Real Teeth?”
Anne is the lovely woman Tony meets at the cemetery. Her deceased husband’s plot is near Tony’s wife’s and they happen to visit their former spouses regularly around the same time. Tony may not realize is in season one but Anne truly saved him from himself.
She gives him hope that there is more to life after death and that maybe his life isn’t over after all. The two begin to get quite cheeky with the other and she helps him prepare for his blind date in the fourth episode. As a fake pickup line, Tony says this comical line to Anne, which undeniably makes her giggle, putting Tony in a good mood.
“Have You Noticed The Roll Of Flab On His Neck?”
After interviewing a boy who can play the clarinet with his nose, Lenny is quite taken by his mother, June. The two begin dating, which throws Tony into a spiral because he doesn’t see how anyone could love someone who looks like Lenny.
Nevertheless, June came to visit Lenny at work one day, which forced Tony to ask her a bunch of questions about her attraction to Lenny. He even brings up his neck “flab.” But after getting to know June more, Tony learns there is someone out there for everyone and sees a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.
