This is one of the serious post topics, around how repetition of certain phrases in the media seep into people’s consciousness.

Anyone who has been reading stories about Jimmy for the last decade or two, especially from the UK, will know that he gets into trouble for a joke about every 12 months or so. Most often it’s been when a Netflix Special comes out (previously it was because of a DVD release or an old special was shown on TV) and someone that’s NOT a fan gets wind of a joke.

What happens with our tabloids is that, regardless of how positive the story is about Jimmy (and this applies to some other people too) they will tag on the end a cut/paste job of the details of his most recent (or egregious) transgression. There are so many articles that mention him receiving “OFCOM complaints” that you get the impression that he shouldn’t be on allowed on air. Especially when they never say how many complaints…or whether they were upheld etc.

We should bear in mind though that the blame for the “incident” is usually aimed at the broadcaster and they would be the one to be fined, for serious and repeated offences (Guidelines are here). Even if you say something naughty – it’s up to the show to edit it out (if they think it is a problem) and there are a whole raft of people involved in the final “to air” version.

An exception, of course, would be “live to air” shows (broadcast without a delay) – like this 2015 One Show episode here (it’s listed below).

Of course, if you do something TOO offensive then the show / channel might not want to work with you again – but its never come to that.

This came about because, back in September 2025, a 2014 OFCOM complaint link popped into my search results and I wrote about it here. But my curiosity was piqued and I started to delve into the topic more (I’ve only just got around to posting about it).

First of all – if you have been following Jimmy’s “controversial comedy” over the years – make a stab at guessing how many complaints you think there have been and about which topics. The reports that I found were from 2005 to 2022 so you’ve got 17 years’ worth to think about.

I’ve played this game with friends/family and 3,000 was the LOWEST number guessed – so get a number fixed in your mind, before you proceed.

To give you an idea of what triggers complaints, here are a few examples:

BFQ 2005

The Big Fat Quiz looks back over the events of the year (obviously) and one of the questions related to Big Brother and showed a clip of an incident with a lady and a wine bottle (see here). Six people complained – even though the show started AFTER the 9pm watershed (explained here) and it was more like 11pm by the time that clip featured. It was found to be “not in breach”.

His Dark Material 2022

Released on Netflix on Christmas Day 2021 (see here) this one got 18 complaints in 2022. So. 18 people ignored the TITLE and trigger warning at the start…and carried on watching.

Only problem being OFCOM doesn’t cover International streaming companies and so these were not actioned. I think that’s what used to be known as “popping something in file 13” (the bin).

Commercial Breakdown 2008

This 8-show series was a hilarious compilation of adverts from around the world, a show that had been running since 1989, albeit with various presenters (see here). There were a total of 11 complaints (from multiple repeats, of the 2 specific shows that caused offence) around topics such as animal welfare and religion. Again – the show was on after 10pm (after the UK’s 9pm watershed) so the complaints were “assessed and not investigated”.

Roast Battle UK 2018

Detailed in here this one is often attributed as a complaint about Jimmy, when it was actually aimed at Comedy Central for putting something out in a trailer that was deemed acceptable within the programme’s context, but not in a promo. This one was a breach – but by Comedy Central. Once again, though, only 1 complaint.

The One Show 2015

This was a discussion around joke writing and Jimmy was explaining how he’d been trying to write 2- or 3-word jokes and quoted one (Rod Stewart was laughing into his hand, beside him on the sofa – see here). This show goes out early evening and got 11 complaints and was found to be a breach. Although, as mentioned in that post, the original 2 complaints were elevated to 11 after press reports. So far as I can tell no fine was imposed on the BBC – just a “don’t do it again” notice.

And the others…

The others are made up of things like Jimmy’s DVD specials (Being Funny, Comedian, In Concert, Laughing and Joking, Making People Laugh, Telling Jokes) being shown on TV. Repeatedly. 27 broadcasts between them.

And, each time they are shown, a couple of complaints trickle in. Since 2010 they have collectively had 45 complaints, none of which were found to be worthy of investigation. Probably because they were all after the watershed and some of the complaints were just for the swearing.

And an old Live At the Apollo repeat got a complaint.

Drumroll please?

Go on then – how many thousand did you guess? And did you start revising your number downwards as you were reading the above?

Bearing in mind that, to date, my research suggests he’s hosted / featured on over 1,200 linear TV shows. And that is only the first showing – factor in all the repeats and it is likely to be FAR more than that.

Without repeats and Best of compilations etc. that’s over 900 broadcast hours.

Ignoring the 18 complaints for His Dark Material the 17 years’ worth of TV collected 77 complaints.

77 complaints!!

Does that align with the impression that the media gives?

To use one of Jimmy’s favourite phrases – let’s “right size” this by comparing this record to Jordan Gray (who managed to get 1,600+ complaints for ONE appearance) and James Acaster (who rampaged on Saturday Kitchen in December 2025 and generated 232 complaints).

Frankly, I think Mr C needs to up his game…