Ricky Gervais’s After Life is gearing up for its second season on Netflix after viewers became enthralled with the life of Tony. After the death of his wife Lisa, Tony fell into a black hole of depression. Throughout the whole first season, we see him grieve in different ways while questioning our existence. Why live without Lisa?
Thankfully, with a little help from his co-workers and family, Tony begins to see the light by the end of the season where he tries to mend his wrongs. However, the show isn’t all about death and depression—it is a dark comedy, after all. Ricky’s character does a fantastic job of making us laugh when we’re not supposed to. Let’s take a look at 10 of those moments.
When Tony Fed His Dog Baked Beans
In the premiere episode, we learn about the passing of Tony’s wife Lisa as she leaves a series of videos for how to get through life without her because he can be “useless.” While Tony is lying in bed watching his wife’s video, his gorgeous German Shepard comes in to wake him up.
Tony slowly gets out of bed, only to find out that he has no dog food. All he has is baked beans and vegetable curry. So, what does he do? He hilariously gives his dog the beans as he chugs the curry without a bowl or a spoon.
The Postman Who Always Reads Tony’s Mail
This poor mailman. He’s new on the job and always wants to hand the mail to Tony personally as they pass each other when Tony’s on his way to work. But Tony doesn’t like to make things easy on people. He instead tells the mailman to place his mail in his mail slot. This exchange goes back and forth for a while and continues throughout the first season until the very last episode. To add to the comedy of it all, the mailman reads his mail and lets Tony know what to expect.
Tony Called Lenny A Pug
The relationship between Lenny and Tony is an interesting one. It’s hard to tell if they’re friends or enemies. Tony does nothing but rip on Lenny for basically living and Lenny does nothing to defend himself.
It appears like Lenny lets Tony get his digs in because he knows he’s internally struggling and doesn’t take it too personally. And, as sad as we sometimes feel for both Lenny and Tony, we can’t help but cackle whenever Tony throws jabs at Lenny. He even grabbed his neck “flab” one day and called him a pug!
When Lenny Told Tony He Had A “Very High Sex Drive”
Throughout the series, Tony and Lenny head to different homes to interview them for the paper. The stories are never really newsworthy, but they do it anyway because locals love local news about their neighbors.
After visiting a home where a teenage boy can play the recorder with his nose, Lenny and the boy’s mother (June) hit it off and exchanged numbers. Tony thought the exchange was inappropriate, but Lenny can’t help himself because he has a “very high sex drive,” to which Tony responded, “never say those words again."
When Tony Ate His Nephew’s Lunch
In the second episode, Tony is asked by his brother-in-law Matt to babysit his son George for a few hours. The problem is Tony’s house isn’t really child-friendly, on the account of him not having children and thinking they’re “pathetic.” But viewers can tell that Tony has a soft spot his nephew.
He ends up taking Geroge to a local cafe for food where they order a kids’ menu item. But, of course, the waitress gives Tony a hard time about ordering something from the kids’ section because he’s not a kid. He decides to order two kid plates anyway and gives them both to George. Just to shame the waitress, he quickly eats one of the plates as she looked on in horror.
All The Times Tony Pranked Lisa
It doesn’t take long to realize that Lisa was Tony’s best friend. Tony can’t continue with life without Lisa because she did everything for him. She was his rock and a safe space for him to call home. However, the pair also had a very fun-loving and childish relationship where he would prank her. He filmed the funny moments, which play randomly throughout the season. We’ve seen him use a blowhorn to wake her up, splash water on her while she’s sleeping on the beach, have even more water fall on her head as she walked through a door… These two obviously had a playful relationship.
Tony Preparing For His Blind Date
In the fourth episode, Matt convinces Tony to go on a blind date. Tony is, at first, totally against the idea. He had the perfect wife, and now she’s gone. No one will compare. However, after some thought, he decides to go on the date. With a little help from his co-worker Sandy, the two go shopping together to find his perfect date night look.
Hilariously, she takes him to a shop that was far too hip for him. They didn’t even carry his size! What’s even funnier is when Matt says “Indian okay?” (as in the kind of food they’re going to eat), Tony replies “I don’t care what she is,” thinking Matt was referring to race when he was really talking about food.
When June Visits The Office
June is Lenny’s new girlfriend and the mother of the boy who plays the recorder with his nostrils. She’s super sweet and appears to adore Lenny for all his flaws. This, of course, bewilders Tony, and he begins to ask June a cluster of questions to make sense of it all. The entire scene is so well done and proves that there is someone out there for everyone. Even dear old Lenny!
He Paid A Hooker To Do His Dishes
When Tony is entertaining the idea of doing drugs to get over his grief, he meets the local drug dealer Julian. The two men spend the night getting stoned, and Julian steals from Tony’s wallet before running out the door. The following day, Tony confronts Julian when he meets a sex worker named Roxy. She said she’ll do anything for 50 quid, and the two are seen walking to his house. It’s assumed they’re going to sleep together, but, instead, he pays her to do his dishes. Roxy is hilariously totally thrown off by the experience, but she can see that Tony is a good guy under all his pain.
When Tony Threatened A Child
Tony is definitely a cool uncle when he wants to be. He loves George and wants the best for him, even though he’s not fond of children, to begin with. But, after he learns that George has been bullied by a kid named Robbie, Tony takes matters in his own hands. He approaches Robbie and claimes to be a serial killer who loves to murder fat, little boys like him… He even had a hammer in his pocket, which really scared the life out of Robbie (and Robbie’s parents). And, sure, making threats to children doesn’t sound funny, but there’s something about Tony that has us in a fit of giggles.
