Television

I haven't heard the Gervais joke so I'm not weighing in about that but I agree with your comment about not "reading" stand up comedy. Jim Jefferies did a skit about this. The joke he was referring to is also controversial but the point is, delivery matters. Here's his bit about writing jokes

"What this lady did was she wrote an article about me, and she did a transcript of the actual routine in the article, wrote down every word I said. Now, I hate this. And I’ll tell you why. Because my whole skill in life is being able to say horrible things and still seem likable. [audience laughing] You take the whole… [grunts] out of it. See, if you read my material… it’s a bad read."