Ricky Gervais‘ new animated TV series Alley Cats may have drawn fire from critics, but one comedy legend has come out to bat for the show.
Critics have had their knives out for Netflix‘s politically incorrect dark comedy, which debuted over the weekend. The show has only a 39% score on Metacritic with The Telegraph giving it a rare zero stars and The Independent one star. Multiple outlets only stretched to two stars.
Despite the bad notices Gervais took to social over the weekend to screenshot the favourable ranking for the show on Netflix’s UK charts, which seemed to show an appetite from viewers. We’ve reached out to the streamer for any data it can share.
Late last night the show got a thumbs up from a fellow bona fide comedy legend in the shape of Monty Python star and Fawlty Towers creator-actor John Cleese.
Cleese wrote on X: “The Ricky Gervaise [sic] CATS animation is quite wonderful”.
To which Gervais responded: “Thanks so much, John. That means quite a lot from the creator of the greatest British sitcom of all time.”
R-rated Alley Cats, created by and voiced by Gervais, follows the trials and tribulations of a group of feral British cats from all walks of society, who seek companionship while ruminating on everyday life. The expletive-laden show had previously got a strong reception at the Annecy film festival where it debuted first footage.
The series marks Gervais’ return to the adult animation game 13 years after the conclusion of HBO and Channel 4’s The Ricky Gervais Show, which was an animated version of the popular podcast from Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington using Hanna-Barbera-era cartoons.
