Karl's Mam

Karl's Mam is the subject of many discussions on the show. She is particularly notable for her bizarre behavior towards family pets. She once shaved a sick cat to make it easier to clean. She would also accept insects as pets, like "Harry the Housefly", a fly (or multiple flies as Ricky contended) who was "just knocking about" in the house. There was another incident where she stroked a bee to de-stress it after it came into the house on a hot day. But the story that is discussed most often is that of the time she taped a dead budgie's feathers to a rock and placed the rock in the cage to keep the surviving bird company.

Karl's mam is a fan of Elvis because, as she says, "he liked fat, ugly women." She also appears to be something of a prude; Karl once described her discomfort over seeing sexual situations on television.

When Karl was a child, his mother was somewhat overprotective of him. She once made him stay home from school because it was windy. On another occasion she locked young Karl inside the house so he couldn't do his paper round on a snowy day.

One of the memorable incidents with Karl occurred when Karl decided to buy his mam a gift for her birthday; only after buying a gnome did he realize that she didn't like it and the way he narrates the sorrow story of his devastation of his mam not liking it and pretending to like it and how it left him scarred for the rest of his life - especially his adult life that made him buy no gifts for anybody (a silly excuse) is very interesting.

Mentions on the Show

• 24 November 2001 - Karl talks about how his Mam has the same birthday as his Dad
• 08 December 2001 - Karl recalls advice given to him as a boy to not chase butterflies
• 23 November 2002 - Karl brings up his Mam listening for the first time and sending in her own Rockbusters
• 11 January 2003 - Shaved Cat