Reading’s Ricky Gervais has released his first standup special since 2018.

In Supernature, which was released on Tuesday (May 24), Gervais reminisces about growing up in Reading.

“I have very fond memories of growing up in Reading, which is why I never go back,” joked the comedian and writer of The Office.

READ MORE: Reading's flagship Jubilee celebration event has just been announced

He riffed on the times people from the town meet him elsewhere in the world, jesting that a polite short response is never enough for them.

Instead, the star of Afterlife explains, fans name their friends from Reading as if he should know them.

Impersonating a Reading local, he jokes how he never does for an obvious reason.

“He knows you,” says Gervais, pretending to be the man on the street.

“Does he? has he got a tele?,” he replies as himself.

“Yeah”
“That’s what’s happened there.”

READ MORE: Jubilee bunting 'stolen' from Reading school's event

The comedian goes on to talk about how he has preferred the anti-hugging culture which emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“As a working class kid on an estate an in Reading, you don’t hug people, you don’t hug your dad or your grandad or your brother.

“You wind them up, you take the piss, that’s our hug,” he says, giving examples of blue jokes made at the funerals of his father and his best friend’s grandmother.

The hour-long special is available on Netflix.