Theroux and Boyle also discussed the role of context in comedy, and that writing a joke into a headline will never capture the essence of an audience and show.
Boyle spoke about Gervais previously in his TV comedy special Excited For You to See and Hate This, which prompted the most recent line of questioning from Theroux.
In that programme Boyle said: My genuine reaction was, it s not that much weirder than Ricky Gervais saying that he s a stand-up comedian. I mean, look, we know Ricky Gervais, he s a brilliant actor, he s a brilliant writer, he s not a fucking stand-up comedian! Just cos Ricky Gervais self-identifies as a stand-up comedian, am I supposed to say that he is one? It s fucking political correctness gone mad!