Swearing

A recurring element of the Xfm shows was Ricky and Steve swearing to annoy Karl, who constantly worried about swearing, or as he calls it, "effing and jeffing". Karl feared that, as the show's producer, he would be held responsible. In addition to swearing specifically with the goal of annoying Karl, Ricky and Steve would casually drops swears words like "shit", "twat", and "arse", simply out of carelessness.

The Infamous Cock Episode

see Upheld Complaint

In the infamous "Cock Episode", Steve mentions that the only bird with a penis is the swan. This lead into a long discussion about the fact that the word "cock" is allowed on the radio only when referring to a male bird. The discussion lasted around five minutes and caused the only upheld complaint in the history of the show. This was also, however, the only show to have won a Sony Award, earning the trio a bronze. Further controversy arose during the 30 March 2002 show when the complaint was discussed after being mentioned in The Guardian. In the article Ricky was said to have been "rapped" and been given "a dressing down" which Karl was apparently supposed to have administered but never actually did.

Ricky's Comedy Characters

see Ho-Lee Fuk

In the 26 April 2003 show, Ricky introduced two new comedy characters, named Camp David, the Right Queer Gay and Ho-Lee Fuk, the funny little Chinaman. When the characters were introduced Karl tried in vain to cover up the offensive syllable by coughing whenever Ricky said Ho-Lee Fuk. The characters were crude stereotypes intended to annoy Karl whilst poking fun at the "comedy" of broadcasters like Noel Edmonds and Chris Moyles. At one point Ricky said that Karl was concerned over the names of one of the characters, so he renamed Camp David as Gayvid Grey, the Bent Pianist. While Ho-Lee Fuk faded into obscurity after the episode, the basic framework for the Camp David character continued to appear under various different names. Elements of the character appeared in an interview featured on The Office DVD, and a later episode of the Xfm show as "Dirty Old Queer", and used in the Genie in the episode of Extras where Andy appears in a pantomime version of Aladdin with Les Dennis.

Karl Swears

Though he spent a good portion of his time on Xfm trying to keep Ricky and Steve from swearing, Karl would, on occasion, almost let one slip. When telling of how he almost choked to death on a Mr Freeze pop, Karl said that when his parents got back from the supermarket he was "as happy as a pig in ..." It should be noted, however, that he stopped not to avoid the swear, but because he couldn't actually remember how the phrase ended. Another instance of Karl almost swearing was after the first false start of the short lived feature, That's Rickydiculous. He asked if Ricky had come up with the week's feature and when Ricky replied no, Karl said, "Just couldn't be ar--." Karl did also, on a few occasions, say the word "twat", usually preceded by a warning to parents that had kids within earshot of the radio. Karl also actually said "arse" in the penultimate Karl in a Film and several other times, along with other bleeped expletives on a message he left on Ricky's machine. By the third series, however, the saying of "arse" by Karl had become commonplace. When Ricky dismissed Karl's story of the beheaded man who walked thirty-six steps as "bollocks" on an interview on his Politics DVD, Karl responded "It's not bollocks though". When it was originally broadcast, New Hero of Comedy: Ricky Gervais amused fans as, in a discussion about The Office Christmas Special, Karl said "[I thought it was great when David Brent] told Finchy to 'fuck off'. This was the first time fans had heard Karl use a strong expletive outright. Karl also said "shit" during a recording for NME radio and again multiple times during the Guide To... Natural History. Karl's swearing was a reoccurring topic in the first half of 2008 amongst Karl's fans, largely because Ricky himself addressed the issue in his blogs, as Karl's attitude (particularly towards Ricky, the podcast and fans) had worsened for a time. First, in his blog dedicated to Karl, Ricky outlined Karl's annoyance at "people on the internet" and amongst other things he noted how these people "don't like it when Karl swears either". At various points in the blog, Ricky noted how Karl used strong language to express annoyance, anger or distaste at the fans, blog and all efforts to get him to do more work. Also, in his movie blog Ricky mentions that Karl got annoyed during a press recording and told Ricky to "fuck off" at which point Ricky wound him up about swearing.

The Podcasts

Though the Podcasts were uncensored there was one episode in which the group was criticised for swearing, only this time they were said to be not swearing enough. While the first series was originally free, the second series cost a small amount. In one of the early episodes of the second series, the trio received an e-mail complaining that since a price had been implemented the amount of swearing in the show had gone down. The e-mailer went so far as to accuse them of "dumbing down" the show. Ricky and Steve responded by calling the e-mailer a "cunt" and a "fucking cocksucker".