Swearing

A recurring element of the XFM shows were Ricky and Steve swearing to annoy Karl, who constantly worried about swearing, or as he calls it, "effing and jeffing," fearing that he would be held responsible as the show's producer. 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 which leads 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. However it is also the only show to have won a Sony, 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 to the show, 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 sillible 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, 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. The character appeared in an interview featured on The Office DVD, and a later episode of the XFM show as "Dirty Old Queer," and was also used as the Genie in the episode of Extras where Andy appears in a stage version of Alladin 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 could 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 as well as several times, along with several other bleeped out expletives, on a message left on Ricky's machine, though the saying of "arse" by Karl had become commonplace by the third series. 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 shocked 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 being the first time fans had heard Karl use a strong expletive. Karl also said "shit" during a recording for NME radio. Karl's swearing has been a reoccurring topic in recent weeks and months amongst Karl's fans, largely because Ricky himself addressed the issue in his blogs and Karl's mood and attitude (particularly towards Ricky, the podcast and fans) has dis-improved recently. First, in his [[|Monkey News (blog)|blog dedicated to Karl]], Ricky outlined Karl's annoyance at "people on the internet" and amongst other things hr 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 Podcast

Though the podcast was uncensored there was one episode in which the group was criticized for swearing, only this time they were said to be not swearing enough. Unlike the first series, the second series came with small price (though the first now also costs money) and a few episodes in 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."