Ricky Gervais stars as the main character, Tony in After Life, the dark comedy on Netflix The show is ultimately about Tony losing his wife to cancer and how to bounce back after a devastating loss. Sadly, he doesn’t want to bounce back; he wants to end it all. But with the help of his friends, family, and loyal canine companion, Tony starts seeing the light, episode by episode.
Until Tony realizes that life is worth living, he’s incredibly rude, dismissive, and insulting to everyone around him, including his co-worker Lenny. Lenny is the photographer at the Tambury Gazette, the local paper they both work for. And although Lenny is nothing but understanding and endearing to Tony, he’s belittled every time they’re together. Before season two hits Netflix this year, let’s take a look at 10 of the meanest things Tony did to Lenny.
HE MADE FUN OF HIM FOR FARTING IN FRONT OF A STRANGER
In the premiere episode of After Life, we learn that Tony is a feature writer for a local paper. For many of the articles Tony writes, Lenny comes along as the paper’s photographer. It’s not known what their relationship was like before Lisa died but it’s obvious Tony is quite mean to Lenny on their outings together.
In one particular scene, the two show up to an older gentleman’s home for an interview when Lenny quietly farts on the doorstep. Tony is so disgusted that he calls him a pig in front of the stranger and claims he has bowel cancer. He then slammed the door in Lenny’s face to let him cool off outside before coming in. Sure, it was hilarious but also quite rude.
HE GRABBED HIS ‘NECK FLAB’ AND CALLED HIM A PUG
Tony and Lenny obviously have the type of relationship where there’s mutual banter going back and forth but Tony can be quite conniving with sweet Lenny.
In the second episode, Tony comes up behind Lenny and grabs hold of his “neck flab.” He holds it in his hands and says how it just wants to cut it off — that the back of his neck looks like a pug. Lenny seems quite annoyed at Tony’s comments, especially in front of a new co-worker.
HE THOUGHT IT WAS INAPPROPRIATE THAT HE ASKED JUNE OUT
At another invigorating interview, Tony and Lenny head to a home where the boy can play the recorder with his nostrils. Alongside him is his single mother, June. Tony, of course, thinks the interview is a complete waste of time and sees no talent in this family.
Lenny, on the other hand, seems quite taken by June and is seen asking for her number at the end of the episode. When he tells Tony that he asked her out, Tony is flabbergasted and disturbed due to how inappropriate it was of him to ask out a woman while on the job. Lenny doesn’t appear affected by Tony’s words but just because Tony is down in the dumps doesn’t mean Lenny needs to be, too.
HE WAS RUDE TO HIM WHEN JUNE CAME TO VISIT LENNY AT WORK
In the fifth episode, June came by the office to drop food off for her new beau Lenny. Tony was incredibly excited about June’s visit because he wanted to know why she was attracted to someone like Lenny. But as it turns out, June loved everything about Lenny, even though Tony tried everything he could to get her to badmouth him.
She seemed puzzled at Tony’s inferences because she loved all the things that Tony made fun of him for. His comments clearly embarrassed Lenny and he quickly told June to leave before it got worse. Thankfully, Lenny doesn’t take too much of Tony’s disses to heart.
HE NEVER LISTENS TO LENNY
It’s hard to know what Tony was like before Lisa passed away. In her videos, she claims Tony was “lovely” and was always making people laugh. He’s a “decent” human being and Lisa didn’t want Tony to lose that side of him after she’s gone. But it appears he did lose that side of him.
When it comes to Lenny, Tony doesn’t bother to listen. And when he is listening, he replies sarcastically or off-topic. Even when Lenny began dating June, he tried telling Lenny three times and he ignored him for something better each time.
TONY TELLS SANDY TO WATCH LENNY EAT
In the first episode, we meet Sandy. She’s new at the paper and would be working next to Tony. Tony’s boss Matt (who is also his brother-in-law) warns Sandy that Tony isn’t himself at the moment and to ignore any rude comments he may throw her way.
Shortly after in the next episode, Tony warns Sandy that Lenny is a despicable eater. He eats loudly, he licks his *
fingers, and seems a little too into the food he’s eating. Sandy understands what Tony is saying but at the same time, it’s hurtful to make fun of someone so blatantly. Lenny obviously felt eyes on him eating and knew Tony put Sandy up to it.
HE THEN PROCEEDS TO CALL HIM A LABRADOR
Granted, we don’t judge Tony getting sick looking at this moment but his comments to Lenny are always too far.
In this episode, Tony and Lenny interview a woman who creates snacks out of her own breastmilk. Tony seems totally disturbed at the thought of eating food created by someone’s breastmilk but Lenny seems delighted by it all. He takes the woman’s sample and begins slurping it, using no utensils. Tony begins to gag and calls him a “f*cking labrador” for the way he ate. Though comical, it’s another embarrassing moment for Lenny.
TONY SAID LENNY LOOKED LIKE SHREK
In another interview, Tony and Lenny show up to a man’s home who thinks the stain on his wall looks like Sir Kenneth Branagh. Tony, of course, thinks the entire story is rubbish and begins to think less of his job but Lenny seems quite pleased with the work they’re doing.
Lenny even says that he would be honored to look like Kenneth Branagh, which forces Tony to say “of course you would. Because you look like f*cking Shrek.” Poor Lenny.
HE TOLD LENNY HIS JOB WAS TAKING HIM NOWHERE
In both the first episode and fourth episode, Tony goes on a rant about their jobs being meaningless. They work for a free local paper that spouts nonsense. With Sandy being new to the paper, Tony questions why she’s there and that her job is useless because no one buys the paper anymore.
She and Lenny both admit that they find the job exciting and that they like working there. No matter how hard Tony tries to convince them that their job is moot, both Lenny and Sandy stick to their guns. If anything it says more about Tony than about Lenny and Sandy who enjoy their quiet, little jobs.
HE MAKES FUN OF HIS EATING HABITS IN FRONT OF SANDY
Not only did Tony make Sandy watch Lenny eat his food at his desk but he also makes fun of his eating habits in general. He explains that Lenny probably has snacks before and in between breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and even midnight snacks. Something which Lenny embarrassingly confirms. To top it all off, before Tony leaves the office, he calls him “fat boy.”
While Tony poking fun at Lenny may be their “thing” in their friendship, it’s certainly distasteful and makes Tony look more like a bully.
