John Cleese gives Ricky Gervais’ Alley Cats glowing endorsement amid divided reception
John Cleese has offered a ringing endorsement of Ricky Gervais’s new Netflix animated series Alley Cats, bucking the trend of overwhelmingly negative reviews.
The Fawlty Towers creator took to X on Sunday to share his enthusiasm, writing: “The Ricky Gervaise (sic) CATS animation is quite wonderful.” In a separate post, he added: “Brilliant. Really, really funny.”
Mr Gervais was clearly moved by the praise from his comedy hero. “Thanks so much, John,” he replied on X. “That means quite a lot from the creator of the greatest British sitcom of all time.”
The exchange between the two comedians stood in stark contrast to the reception the six-part series has received elsewhere, with critics across the spectrum savaging the show since its release.
Ricky Gervais is no stranger to causing debate with his humour | GETTYThe show has been met with a torrent of scathing assessments, accumulating a mere 20 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Telegraph’s Anita Singh awarded it zero stars, branding it “the worst thing to happen to cats since Cats” and adding: “Alley Cats is staggeringly unfunny.
“It’s bizarre to see someone of Gervais’s talent produce this.”
Metro’s Tom Percival was equally damning in his one-star write-up, writing: “I was shocked that a man I used to think was a comedy genius, a man who worked on two of the best comedies of all time and produced arguably the greatest comedy character of the 2000s, David Brent, could produce such lazy claptrap.”
The Ricky Gervaise CATS animation is quite wonderful
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) August 9, 2026
The Independent’s Louis Chilton questioned whether Mr Gervais “even has it in him to make another Life’s Too Short.”
NME’s Matt Maytum described the programme as “a cross between a sitcom and a Pixar movie. But with swearing.”
Mr Gervais appeared unfazed by the critical mauling, taking to Instagram to celebrate after Alley Cats climbed to the top of Netflix’s chart.
“Oh. My. God,” he wrote alongside a screenshot of the number one ranking. “I’ve never been so happy. Best fans in the f***ing world.”
He dismissed the wave of poor reviews as “predictable.”
On X, he addressed potential viewers directly: “If you watch Alley Cats and you get offended at any point, just remember that 1, It’s just a cartoon, and 2, you’re an adult, and can take it.”
Speaking to The Times on Saturday, the 65-year-old struck a similar note of indifference, describing audience outrage as “inevitable and a bit boring now.”
The critical consensus has notably cut across political lines, with both left-leaning and right-leaning outlets united in their disapproval.
John Cleese applauded Ricky Gervais’ new comedy
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GB NEWSAlley Cats represents Mr Gervais’s first television comedy project since After Life wrapped up on Netflix in 2022.
The six-episode animated series follows a band of foul-mouthed feral cats on a mission to help a stray kitten find its way home.
Mr Gervais provides the voice of Gus, a world-weary orange tabby, and has surrounded himself with familiar faces from his comedy circle.
The cast includes Tom Basden, Diane Morgan, David Earl and Andrew Brooke, though notably absent are two of his most celebrated collaborators, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington.
Radio Times critic Jack Seale observed that the programme’s blend of “raucous crudeness and simplistic sentimentality” had become Mr Gervais’s hallmark style, while the iPaper’s Emily Baker lamented that the show “arrives not with a roar, but a meow.”
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