Ricky Gervais tells The One Show's Alex Jones 'I'm going to die soon'

Ricky Gervais shocked The One Show's Alex Jones by telling her, "I'm going to die soon."

The Office star appeared on the BBC chat show to discuss his latest Netflix comedy special Supernature, but left the hosts struggling to get back on track after he confronted them with the brevity of life.

Jones, 45, asked Gervais how he manages to brag about his wealth within his comedy routines, without turning his audience against him.

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The 60-year-old stand-up comic replied: "I let them peep behind the curtain and I tell them all the terrible things that happen to me, the terrible tweets, the terrible press.

"I also do it by telling them they're better off than me. I'm fat and old and I'm going to die soon."

Jones laughed and quickly retorted: "You're not!"

Gervais replied seriously: "I am."

He then quipped: "I've brought it down haven't I?"

Gervais went on: "I am, I don't care, I'm going to die. Every day I'm closer to death. Every day is a bigger percentage of the rest of your life and we don't know what percentage that is going to be.

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"If I die tomorrow, today was 50% of the rest of my life."

Jones responded glumly: "Woah, deep."

Co-host Jermaine Jenas added: "I didn't see this coming, this is not a part of the show that I thought was going to happen."

Gervais has been criticised by some members of the LBGTQ+ community for a number of jokes about transgender rights in the new comedy show.

Gay rights organisation GLAAD tweeted: "We watched the Ricky Gervais ‘comedy’ special on Netflix so you don’t have to. It’s full of graphic, dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes. He also spouts anti-gay rhetoric & spreads inaccurate information about HIV.

“Netflix has a policy that content ‘designed to incite hate or violence’ is not allowed on their platform, but we all know that anti-LGBTQ content does exactly that. While Netflix is home to some groundbreaking LGBTQ shows, it refuses to enforce its own policy in comedy."

Gervais discusses cancel culture as part of the routine.

Read more: Ricky Gervais makes Eddie Izzard target of trans joke in new stand-up show

At the beginning of the show Gervais reminds to his audience: "That was irony. There's going to be a bit of that throughout the show.

"That's when I say something I don't really mean, for comic effect. And you as an audience laugh at the wrong thing, because you know what the wrong thing is. It's a way of satirising attitudes."