What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedAfter Life
Ricky Gervais · Series · 2019
If you loved After Life, start with After.Life (2009) — a film from the same story. Below: 4 books, 4 films and 1 podcast, each matched to After Life across media.
What hooked you in After Life is the way it balances biting, cynical humor against the raw, quiet ache of grief.
Start with the source
The source
After.Life
Film · 2009
Books on the same thread
The Suicide
Nikolaĭ Ėrdman · Book · 1979
Shares 2 threads with After Life: Existentialism, Dark Comedy.
Like After Life, this play finds dark, absurdist humor in the contemplation of suicide, exploring how a singular existential crisis can suddenly attract the unwanted attention of an intrusive society.
A Grief Observed
C. S. Lewis · Book · 1989
Shares a thread with After Life: grief.
If the emotional weight of After Life resonated with you, this memoir offers a similarly intimate, honest look at the painful process of navigating faith and loss after a death.
They Both Die at the End
Adam Silvera · Book · 2021
Shares a thread with After Life: Grief.
If After Life hit, They Both Die at the End shares the thread.
Kitchen (キッチン)
Banana Yoshimoto · Book · 1988
Shares a thread with After Life: Grief.
Much like After Life, this narrative treats the overwhelming experience of grief with a delicate, grounded perspective, focusing on the slow, often quiet ways that people learn to continue living.
Films on the same thread
Another Round
Thomas Vinterberg · Film · 2020
Shares a thread with After Life: Dark Comedy.
Fans of After Life will appreciate this film’s focus on men attempting to overcome a midlife existential crisis, using a reckless, high-stakes experiment to mask their deep-seated feelings of stagnation.
A Serious Man
Film · 2009
Shares a thread with After Life: Dark Comedy.
Just as After Life highlights the absurdity of a man’s world falling apart, this film captures the dark, existential frustration of a protagonist struggling to find logic in personal tragedy.
Wristcutters: A Love Story
Goran Dukić · Film · 2007
Shares a thread with After Life: Dark Comedy.
Sharing the cynical, afterlife-focused premise of After Life, this film explores the protagonist's journey toward redemption through a lens of dark comedy and the search for lost love.
Ricky Gervais: SuperNature
Film · 2022
Shares 2 threads with After Life: Cynicism, Dark Comedy.
If you enjoyed the sharp, provocative voice of Ricky Gervais in After Life, this stand-up special delivers that same uncompromising, dark humor applied to the complexities of the human condition.
Podcasts on the same thread
Where There's A Will, There's A Wake
Sony Music Entertainment · Podcast
Shares 2 threads with After Life: Existentialism, Dark Comedy.
This podcast mirrors the way After Life invites viewers to laugh at the taboo subject of death, turning existential dread into a conversational space for humor and genuine reflection.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is After Life related to the 2009 movie After.Life?
No, the 2019 television series After Life and the 2009 movie After.Life are entirely separate productions. They share similar titles but have no connection regarding plot, cast, or creative intent. The television series follows Tony, while the film is a distinct story.
What is the premise of the television series After Life?
After Life follows Tony, a man whose life changes drastically after the sudden death of his wife. Instead of ending his own life, he decides to live long enough to punish the world by saying and doing whatever he wants without regard for social consequences.
Did Ricky Gervais create the television series After Life?
Yes, Ricky Gervais created and starred in the television series After Life, which premiered in 2019. The show explores his character Tony's journey through grief as he adopts a cynical and unfiltered approach to his daily interactions with the world around him.
How does Tony change in After Life?
In After Life, Tony undergoes a significant personality shift following the loss of his wife. He moves from having a perfect life to a state of deep grief, ultimately deciding to abandon social norms and act on his impulses to punish the world for his suffering.