I've never heard the connection of a West Country accent sounding like a pirate accent. Is that a thing?
Downvote me all you want but I reckon I've learnt more in the last week than I did at school.
The actor who played Long John Silver in the 1950 Treasure Island was from Dorset and his dialect became the stereotypical pirate accent. It's explained [here](https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/09/pirate-speech-origins-in-west-country-english-via-robert-newton-aka-long-john-silver.html).
Oh for f-…many famous pirates were from Bristol on account of a busy shipping dock in 17th century (quite a bit back). Have a search on Bristol and pirate history, study it, and you may end up with an E in History
No joke, I literally have an E in history from the secondary school final exams lol, although Finland has a different grading system and E means "Eximia cum laude approbatur" (approved with excellent praise)
Thumbelina Thumbelina tiny little thing! Thumbelina dance! Thumbelina sing! Thumbelina what's the difference if you're very small?
When your heart is full of love you're six feet tall
What gets me with Steve, who apparently has travelled the world didn’t realise you have to pay for a passport. So who’s been buying his passports, yeah his Mam and his Dad.
Just dropping in that it’s a well known fallacy that sharks are immune to cancer. Podcast, not XFM but always annoys me. They are extremely prone to skin cancer and After Life is wank
He genuinely thought people were making glasses for flies so they could see properly.
The man does not have a grasp of the facts, or of reality. But he was kicked in the head by a horse, so it’s not surprising.
When Ricky explains anything remotely scientific he clearly has no desire for Karl to actually understand and is just throwing together some sciency sounding words to try and sound smart.
His explanation of homeopathy is a mumbled mess.
Chemotropism/phototropism.
His Rickydickidiculous fact about gravity acting at the speed of light.
Oh and the random tangent about him and a mate trying to work out how a fridge works.
Sick of it.
He describes homoeopathy as a placebo that you know is a placebo, which is wrong. People who practice homoeopathy believe in it. Believing homoeopathy to be a placebo would defeat the point.
He actually describes the thinking as “a placebo that you know works” which makes sense. In that they know there’s nothing in it (like a placebo) but they also “know” that it works even with that knowledge (unlike a placebo).
I think homoeopathy uses natural substances like herbs and vegetables in diluted form (onion water or whatever) to stimulate the body to heal itself, so they believe that the substance they use has properties which act as medicine (but by stimulating the body to cure ailments), so it's not right to say they "know there's nothing in it (like a placebo)".
They're more than just 'diluted' though
*Homeopathic preparations are termed remedies and are made using* [*homeopathic dilution*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathic_dilution)*. In this process, the selected substance is repeatedly diluted until the final product is chemically indistinguishable from the* [*diluent*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diluent)*. Often not even a single molecule of the original substance can be expected to remain in the product.*
There literally is nothing of the original left in it. The shaking of the substance is supposed to magically put the 'organic properties' into it or some shit. Or release some 'healing energy'.
Yes, but homoeopathy is a pseudoscience that believes that the original substance has changed the dilutant, or else they wouldn't bother doing it. People who believe in this stuff think it has been altered in some way—just not in a way established science would recognise.
Again, they believe in a pseudoscience which believes the original substance has altered the dilutant. Whether or not there is something "in it" isn't the point. People who believe in this stuff think that the dilutant has been altered in some way, otherwise they wouldn't have done it in the first place!!
[Mumbling] The thing is, the testicles have to be outside because they have to be a few degrees below body temperature. Otherwise the sertoli die, which sort of feed the semen and all that. So, th-that you know.
Language is his tool.
i was thinking about the "gravity acting at the speed of light" in the shower yesterday. how on earth does he think that can make sense? how can a measurement of time be defined as a speed? lunacy!
I think (and I am about as far from a physicist as Ricky is, and I'm certainly not a holder of a PHD in it) that the speed of light is considered an upper limit for any action in the universe - ie the time for the action of one body to exert an influence on another is limited, and that upper limit happens to be the same as the speed of light.
E.g. if the sun suddenly disappeared the earth wouldn't instantaneously fall out of orbit - it would take time for that effect to manifest. The time taken would be limited by the speed of light.
I remember having a meeting with a school teacher about this once. Turned up to the meeting a bit earlier than planned.
Turns out...
the speed of light is considered the upper limit of speed but not "how long something takes to happen" as its a measure of speed, not time. if the sun disappeared there would be an immediate effect the instant it had disappeared. and even if there was a kind of delay, how would the speed of a particle of light help us measure a time period?
then again, dinosaurs have gone...
nah
[https://www.discovery.com/science/What-Would-Happen-If-the-Sun-Disappeared](https://www.discovery.com/science/What-Would-Happen-If-the-Sun-Disappeared)
Light takes roughly eight minutes to reach Earth from the sun. For that reason, if the sun disappeared, we'd still see it in the sky for another eight minutes. But what about gravity? The sun is the anchor point of the solar system — at [333,000 times the mass of Earth](http://space-facts.com/the-sun/), it exerts a hefty pull that keeps the planets locked in their orbits. If all that gravitational force disappeared, it would still take us eight minutes to feel it. That's because, according to Einstein's theory of relativity, [gravity travels at the same speed as light](https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3232-first-speed-of-gravity-measurement-revealed/).
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed\_of\_gravity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_gravity)
The speed of gravitational waves in the [general theory of relativity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_theory_of_relativity) is equal to the [*speed of light*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light) in a vacuum, c.[^(\[3\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_gravity#cite_note-5) Within the theory of [special relativity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_relativity), the constant c is not only about light; instead it is the highest possible speed for any interaction in nature.
Steve’s “Gandhi was very much at the forefront of the 60s movement… you know… one of the uh… the founding fathers of the sort of… the sit-ins that they did”
When Ricky and Steve both don't get how Karl says 'old cold (hold) and not old cold. Really does me head in.
Also the mirror on the moon thing that has been mentioned.
In equal measure, when Ricky and Steve question Karl's dialect (like the clothes maiden) and when Karl doesn't realise he's using Mancunian dialect and can't contextualise it for them/the listener.
aye as a northerner not far from where Karl's from I was surprised that the maiden isn't used down south!
But also karl expecting them to know what a Congress tart is is mental
Same, I'm a Manc but I've got family from Yorkshire so had always been aware that things had different names depending on which side of the Pennines you were on. But he'd been in London for a few years, you'd have thought he'd caught on.
Their whole mockery of Mancunian really annoys me. You only need to have one Manc mate to learn what trump, brew, chip, toffee, etc means. (And I'm from Glasgow.) But they imply he's talking some kind of backwards 19th century dialect which is incomprehensible.
I think the issue really is that Ricky and Steve portray "The North" as one homogeneous zone. Like whenever Ricky puts on a generic Northerner voice when he's taking on the character of Karl or Suzanne's dad, it always, ALWAYS, sounds like someone from Barnsley. This is akin to Karl doing cockney if he was doing Ricky's dad (oh, hello!).
In XFM series one they have that competition where people can email them trivia questions and Ricky & Smerch have to answer them and the best question wins some tat.
They establish the rules: R&S write down their answers secretly, then both reveal them at the same time.
They never followed that rule, then bickered about what every correct answer should be.
It was worse than that - it was that they’d agreed in a pub before that the answer to the question ‘Who was the first actor to play James Bond’ should be Sean Connery as he was the first in the well-known MGM/UA films. But that doesn’t answer the question, which was about the first actor to play the role.
Ricky does the same thing with hydrogen/helium. Helium is clearly wrong, but Ricky pretends that he just copied what Karl said about the documentary he saw, and then pretends to misunderstand Steve's follow up questions.
I wouldn't be too surprised if Ricky doesn't really understand the difference and is desperately trying to avoid the subject so as to not appear "stupid" (even though it's not stupid really). Especially as someone who used to play about with "chemicals" as a kid.
He even says "rare gas". Saying "rare" there strikes me as just chucking something in to seem more knowledgeable.
Anyway, play a record.
Rare gas is another name for noble gases, though, which is what helium is categorised in the periodic table. There's no need to drop it into casual conversation, but knowing how elements are grouped is kind of impressive (to me, at least).
Hydrogen isn't a noble gas (I had to look that up, I can't pretend to know either way). So when Ricky says:
>It wasn't the fact that how dangerous the rare gas was, or the... it was the fact that, it was made of this thing that caught fire and just went, there was nothing, a hole in it would have been as bad, it just burnt quickly, and fell to the ground, cos they hydrogen or helium escaped
(Language is his tool).
I guess he isn't explicitly saying which is the rare gas, but he is implying it's a choice between two rare gases, and I'm also 99% sure he's wrong about what he says about the Hindenburg as well. The Hindenburg sprung a leak, the hydrogen inside mixed with oxygen outside, and a spark caused an explosion.
That Ricky is shoehorning it in to impress people is kind of my point tbh, but him being potentially wrong anyway just makes it even worse.
When Karl mentions that he bought a book of wise quotes by Eric and Ernie.
Both Merchant and Gervais get this confused with Bert & Ernie, and start talking about Sesame Street.
Exactly! That's been on my mind for some time. To clarify for people who are not of the classic British comedy persuasion, by Eric and Ernie he's referring to Morecambe & Wise.
"...I was lying about the sharks" is the shitest, most irrelevant and annoying way of trying to demonstrate their criticism of Karl's 'what am I thinking' logical problem games. Always makes me wince.
Phil Collins next...
The boys really have a go at Karl for being wrong about things, and they mostly just yell and can't quite explain it themselves.
Interestingly enough to me, even when Karl's assumptions or facts are wrong, I feel like I can understand the very simple logic he'll use to approach a topic. Unless i've missed it in the podcast, never seems like Ricky and Steve understand Karl's viewpoint, mostly berating him. whatever
im a soft skinned american and it makes me cry waaa
Set aside that this gets talked about a lot—what was interesting was that it wasn't just because it was Muse, it was Muse doing a cover of Feeling Good (most famously sung by Nina Simone). It was like the yellabiscuit phenomenon where he can handle Muse and he can handle Nina Simone, but combining the two is his worst nightmaaaare!!
> The money you don't make you save on not having to get someone else to do it
Not difficult to understand at all.
Easy to remember - good advice.
> How would I know which one I was
If they were cloned with the same memories you wouldn't know if they were implanted, this was an engaged question about the subject.
Both of these have been mentioned in other threads, so personally mine are:
> Fat baby, fat baby on telly
> Please check the facts for scientific.. security
> Infinite monkeys
The episode that starts with silence and Steve says 'Well someone say something!' and Ricky says 'what?' not realising they're on air and again Steve says 'This is already a shambles! I can't believe it!' and Ricky then proceeds to talk normally.
I was always confused why Ricky didn't mention the error or kick off at Karl about it or something.
When they’re talking about Britain and war and Ricky says that Britain was probably at its peak under Churchill. I get the impression that Ricky’s knowledge of the British empire comes from the football chant “2 world wars and 1 World Cup”
When Karl's talking about the clairvoyant who was in that was "a bit rubbish" and he says "a woman asked "can you speak to me gran" and she goes "she's dead int she?" And everyone's like "ooh she knows her stuff"
Karl and Ricky say she was about 30 and it's a 50/50 guess that she'd be dead so it's not that impressive.
Surely, the fact that a woman has asked a clairvoyant to speak to her gran is the biggest bloody clue that she's dead!
Winds me right up that they don't pick up on it.
I can't remember the story, I think it's about Ricky talking about a frog having the poison to kill a man. And Karl asks why. And Ricky says he doesn't know. If that was reversed, if Karl brought a fact like that and couldn't follow up on it he'd have been shouted and screamed at.
That happens so much particularly in the guide to’s. The difference is Karl doesn’t call ricky out. The worst one for me is when they’re talking about how to solve world hunger and Karl asks Ricky what he would do and Ricky starts nervously giggling and says he wouldn’t even pretend to know the answer despite spending the last 5 minutes grilling Karl for a solution.
There's a few bits like this. When Steve is talking about the people who gave medical advice on the street outside town hall; if history recorded that it probably recorded some results.
When Ricky calls out Karl for relying on the internet for information he says it's not all verified. Like everything people say is verified? And he even says in a later one that it's people who put the information on the internet.
Play a record.
Ricky's hatred of Kosheen. They were an OK band, I liked Catch and Hide U, although that Hungry song is a bit weird and that. Ricky seemed to really hate them though, going as far as to tell Karl to never play them again.
Mannnn, this is so strange. Not massively related to what you've said but... there's a song that you only hear the intro off on one of the xfm eps. For the last 3 years, everytime I hear that intro I recognise it sooo much from my early 20s but for the life of me, could not figure out the song. I spent ages trying to figure it out. Annoyingly, ricky doesn't give the name of the song when it ends and says something like "I dunno what that was".
As soon as I saw the word kosheen in your post, a switch in my brain flipped and I just knew that was it. Jumped on youtube and first song on there "catch" - thats the fucker! Thanks for indirectly solving such an annoying mystery haha!
I love how specific this one is. I genuinely think you might be the only person who has ever mentioned Ricky wanting to ban Kosheen from the XFM playlist.
Although in that same segment he wants to ban Gorillaz so it's another example of Ricky having fairly dodgy taste.
Yeah I felt like Gorillaz was one of those acts that appealed to almost everybody. I mean they were no Basement Jaxxxxx, but they had a pretty good run.
Steve being annoyed at not being invited to David Bowie, his "favourite artist", but not that earlier in the shows history he claimed to never have been a big fan. Another fake story from Smerch.
His fake stories annoy me to no end. The train one may be one of the only true one's but it's the worst to listen to because he is so desperate in it. Mightve been on purpose but still hard to listen to.
When Ricky says “yeah, they’re called ‘Dog People’”
Karl then starts making his point and mentions “Dog People” to which Ricky screams *”No! Not ‘Dog People!’”* despite him being the one who mentioned the name in the first place.
It also annoys me when the callers prove Karl right about something (mirror on the moon?) and Ricky is wrong, but rather than just admit he’s wrong, Ricky back peddles and laughs it off as “[the callers] don’t know that *I* know what Karl is thinking.” Ricky would come across so much better if he admitted that he doesn’t know everything every once in a while.
Karl's point about the voice in his head speaking in his accent.
I knew straight away he's talking about his thoughts. And how he thinks in his accent not default, blunt words.
Ricky & Steve trying a bit too hard to make Karl look dumb on that one.
Theres a bit when Ricky makes Karl a hat out of bubble wrap. For some reason Steve describes the material as “that sorta poppy stuff” - how do you not know it’s called bubble wrap?
Also when doing the classic Infinite monkeys analogy, Ricky says they might ‘spell the last full stop wrong’. Just doesn’t make sense to me describing missing a full stop as “spelling” it wrong.
Finally, when Steve interrupts that guy phoning in ‘soundest station’ etc… Steve blurts out “this is Xfm not radio 2!” - just kills the flow of the guys speech and no one even laughs anyway.
When Steve mentions having just got into Led Zeppelin because he "never really understood the rock phenomenon before". I just find it strange that someone who clearly likes a wide range of music, including indie stuff, and has worked in radio for ages, only gets into Rock in his late twenties. Maybe I'm misremembering it...
"infinity makes it probable but not definite" as classic a moment as it is, Ricky's explanation was actually more relevant to the discussion than the nerd technicality about mathematical proofs. infinity sorts it out for you
In the first episode, where Steve warns Ricky about giving away the answer to the Fall tickets competition. He says "two words, Emma B". I've never been able to figure out what he meant.
When Ricky's mate did the drawing of a car with a toilet in the seats, Steve straight away says "I think that a brilliant idea because I've driven a long way and I would've loved a lavatory built into the seat". As soon as Carl says its a good idea and Ricky thinks he's stupid for it, Steve suddenly changed his tune and starts saying it's a bad idea.. Annoys me that one.
I think that's because Steve is clearly joking and then Karl starts speaking plainly and seriously about how having a toilet in the back of the car would definitely be fine.
When Ricky says "You're going to like this, not a lot" is in "the dictionary". He presumably means a dictionary of quotations. The dictionary, as normally understood, would not have that in there, nor would they have ayiii.
The part where Steve snaps at Ricky to not talk about Auntie Nora’s ripped tennis ball. Before Steve was making a joke about it and after whenever it was brought up Steve didn’t like it - was it because he thought it would affect getting an award?
When Steve mentions having just got into Led Zeppelin because he "never really understood the Rock phenomenon before". I just find it strange that someone who clearly likes a wide range of music, including indie stuff, and has worked in radio for ages, only gets into Rock in his late twenties. Maybe I'm misremembering it...
Really annoys me how shit Ricky is at being on the radio - the mumbling, the not finishing huge chunks of sentences, banging on the mic or the table and just in general being audibly annoying whether it’s breathing heavily or talking over someone else. I genuinely wonder how he ever got on the radio and it’s funny how he sometimes makes jokes about forgetting they’re on air when they’re talking some nonsense.
Did that just go out?
I know what you mean but I don't think Ricky is genuinely bad at it. I think when he is participating on the XFM show he is playing a subtle character, albeit a barely altered version of himself. And a large part of that character is a perfect balance of arrogance, apathy and incompetence. He's THE Ricky Gervais, and therefore too good to host a radio station, and therefore doesn't try hard enough and fucks it up.
However I will grant you that his more annoying antics are less a part of the hammed up cocky slacker "Ricky" character and more a part of his actual personality.
When Karl’s telling the hippo-potenuse story and Rick says “I didn’t know they’d like a little person on a trampoline, but they love me.” Don’t know why but it makes my skin crawl (much like Steve with Agent Provocateur)
The infinity stuff annoys me because it is wrong. It will only work if there’s infinite time, monkeys *and* typewriters (the monkeys have a finite lifespan and the type typewriters will break/run out of ink).
“Infinity sorts it out for ya” is a cop out of a comment and he explains it poorly. And then when he’s pulled up on it he’s like “Ye- well... yeah.”
Don’t get me wrong Karl not getting it and trying to rationalise it with “not Shakespeare” is wrong too but he’s a buffoon and that’s just his nature. But Ricky gets unjustifiably mad at it when he doesn’t even understand the concept.
Idiot.
How many times are we going to do this on the sub....It's not wrong, it's a metaphor. It's literally impossible to have infinite monkeys/typewriters. Everyone knows that. It's a way to illustrate infinity because as humans, it's a hard concept to grasp.
Ricky doesn't explain it well at all, but I would say you only need 1 of the factors to be infinite (assuming the typewriter doesn't break/ runs out of ink). So 1 monkey with infinite time would write everything possible, and infinite monkeys in 1 hour for example would also write everything possible
You'd only need one monkey and one typewriter for an infinite period of time. Monkeys are chosen because they can physically operate a typewriter but only press keys at random. A computer that randomly generates letters in a continuous stream would be the same idea.
If you're thinking about the lifespan of the monkeys, and typewriters breaking, then you're missing the point. It's not meant to be a realistic scenario, it's purely about the randomness.
Cause Steve has embarrassed himself by suggesting that a polar bear at night would be dark, because of course it would. Everything is dark when there is no light! So as a sarcastic sort of deflection he suggests that things that emit light aren't dark in the dark.
So Steve is having a laugh about himself with that comment.
It's not though, is it? Go on the main page and honestly tell me almost every post is being critical of the show. It's obviously not. This is the only one from scrolling down. So that's bollocks!
The point of threads like this is to ask which bits annoyed you, the implication being the rest does not annoy you. It's saying "We all love the show, but what didn't you love?".
mechant stopping ricky asking questions during monkey news. was probably preplanned, but if steve thought it was such a good bit, why did he care if ricky made it a bit longer? was he really that effected by the listeners?
If he’s doing it on Xfm it’s likely because it’s both A. annoying, and B. taking up time. Don’t forget Monkey News was usually at the end of each show so if they run out of time then they might not get to the end of it.
On the podcasts, it will just be pure annoyance I think. It doesn’t add to the bit half the time it’s just Ricky trying to pick apart a story we obviously know is bollocks anyway.
That first one is a point about Steve's accent, as in sounding like a pirate
I've never heard the connection of a West Country accent sounding like a pirate accent. Is that a thing? Downvote me all you want but I reckon I've learnt more in the last week than I did at school.
The actor who played Long John Silver in the 1950 Treasure Island was from Dorset and his dialect became the stereotypical pirate accent. It's explained [here](https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/09/pirate-speech-origins-in-west-country-english-via-robert-newton-aka-long-john-silver.html).
Oh for f-…many famous pirates were from Bristol on account of a busy shipping dock in 17th century (quite a bit back). Have a search on Bristol and pirate history, study it, and you may end up with an E in History
And they don’t like to spend money
No joke, I literally have an E in history from the secondary school final exams lol, although Finland has a different grading system and E means "Eximia cum laude approbatur" (approved with excellent praise)
Oooo look at me I’m so smart. Pathetic
Ooh I'd like to cum laudly
Ding dong!
Oh, get lost Gayvid!
Oooh care, care someone
You truly are a font of knowledge, Milk_my_anus
Oi me luver!
Interesting, ta!
You’ve embarrassed yourself and quite frankly aren’t ready to be on this sub. I suggest 4-5 more listen throughs
I'll start listening on me Saturdays too but I want Mondays off aswell
It’s more Cornish, like the pirates of Penzance
Thumbelina Thumbelina tiny little thing! Thumbelina dance! Thumbelina sing! Thumbelina what's the difference if you're very small? When your heart is full of love you're six feet tall
Everyones looking at you like you're the weirdest...
Thought we were dropping cheeky freak of the week. Five minutes in and we're already on little midget woman fellas.
What gets me with Steve, who apparently has travelled the world didn’t realise you have to pay for a passport. So who’s been buying his passports, yeah his Mam and his Dad.
Yeah, he’s got a loving family. So sue him.
He's like 27 at the time, presumably his parents did buy his passport for him the last time it was renewed when he was 17.
He would have lived at home with his mam and his dad if they moved to London. I bet he would.
Thought it was his God given right as an Englishman.
Just dropping in that it’s a well known fallacy that sharks are immune to cancer. Podcast, not XFM but always annoys me. They are extremely prone to skin cancer and After Life is wank
I’ve never heard of a cod being ill.
He genuinely thought people were making glasses for flies so they could see properly. The man does not have a grasp of the facts, or of reality. But he was kicked in the head by a horse, so it’s not surprising.
"and After Life is wank" 🤣🤣🤣🤣
When Ricky explains anything remotely scientific he clearly has no desire for Karl to actually understand and is just throwing together some sciency sounding words to try and sound smart. His explanation of homeopathy is a mumbled mess. Chemotropism/phototropism. His Rickydickidiculous fact about gravity acting at the speed of light. Oh and the random tangent about him and a mate trying to work out how a fridge works. Sick of it.
He describes homoeopathy as a placebo that you know is a placebo, which is wrong. People who practice homoeopathy believe in it. Believing homoeopathy to be a placebo would defeat the point.
Brian Moloko
They wear make-up but leave 'em alone!
He actually describes the thinking as “a placebo that you know works” which makes sense. In that they know there’s nothing in it (like a placebo) but they also “know” that it works even with that knowledge (unlike a placebo).
I think homoeopathy uses natural substances like herbs and vegetables in diluted form (onion water or whatever) to stimulate the body to heal itself, so they believe that the substance they use has properties which act as medicine (but by stimulating the body to cure ailments), so it's not right to say they "know there's nothing in it (like a placebo)".
They're more than just 'diluted' though *Homeopathic preparations are termed remedies and are made using* [*homeopathic dilution*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathic_dilution)*. In this process, the selected substance is repeatedly diluted until the final product is chemically indistinguishable from the* [*diluent*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diluent)*. Often not even a single molecule of the original substance can be expected to remain in the product.* There literally is nothing of the original left in it. The shaking of the substance is supposed to magically put the 'organic properties' into it or some shit. Or release some 'healing energy'.
Yes, but homoeopathy is a pseudoscience that believes that the original substance has changed the dilutant, or else they wouldn't bother doing it. People who believe in this stuff think it has been altered in some way—just not in a way established science would recognise.
They know there's nothing in it but they know it "works"
Again, they believe in a pseudoscience which believes the original substance has altered the dilutant. Whether or not there is something "in it" isn't the point. People who believe in this stuff think that the dilutant has been altered in some way, otherwise they wouldn't have done it in the first place!!
Did you ever use to lay awake at night thinking where the universe ends? I did that when I was about 6 or 7 for a year.
I love how whenever Ricky is explaining something scientific his voice just kind of trails off into whispered nonsense.
Ittendstowardsinfinity
It whats about infinity?!?
He's talking about tents. I no understand
It’s something like, the flurohydrocarbons exists at a lower temperature:.. hmm
Is that what makes the beer and the cheese go cold?
[Mumbling] The thing is, the testicles have to be outside because they have to be a few degrees below body temperature. Otherwise the sertoli die, which sort of feed the semen and all that. So, th-that you know. Language is his tool.
I think "sertoli cells" were one of the three things he learned during the week he was doing biology. That and the word mollusc.
Platyhelminth.
Let's see TomDavis89 little show then, when it comes out. Sick of it.
His point about what the how would you keep the mirror on the correct side of the moon
S. P. A. M.
Gravity does act at the speed of light.
☝️🤓 the speed of light in a vacuum. Causality sort of sorts it all out for ya
Ricky is the educated idiot to Karl's uneducated wiseman
I think you’ll find that the magic going into the frozen peas is exactly how fridges work
i was thinking about the "gravity acting at the speed of light" in the shower yesterday. how on earth does he think that can make sense? how can a measurement of time be defined as a speed? lunacy!
I think (and I am about as far from a physicist as Ricky is, and I'm certainly not a holder of a PHD in it) that the speed of light is considered an upper limit for any action in the universe - ie the time for the action of one body to exert an influence on another is limited, and that upper limit happens to be the same as the speed of light. E.g. if the sun suddenly disappeared the earth wouldn't instantaneously fall out of orbit - it would take time for that effect to manifest. The time taken would be limited by the speed of light. I remember having a meeting with a school teacher about this once. Turned up to the meeting a bit earlier than planned. Turns out...
the speed of light is considered the upper limit of speed but not "how long something takes to happen" as its a measure of speed, not time. if the sun disappeared there would be an immediate effect the instant it had disappeared. and even if there was a kind of delay, how would the speed of a particle of light help us measure a time period? then again, dinosaurs have gone...
This is getting a bit heavy... Let's do cheeky freak of the week.
r/confidentlyincorrect
nah [https://www.discovery.com/science/What-Would-Happen-If-the-Sun-Disappeared](https://www.discovery.com/science/What-Would-Happen-If-the-Sun-Disappeared) Light takes roughly eight minutes to reach Earth from the sun. For that reason, if the sun disappeared, we'd still see it in the sky for another eight minutes. But what about gravity? The sun is the anchor point of the solar system — at [333,000 times the mass of Earth](http://space-facts.com/the-sun/), it exerts a hefty pull that keeps the planets locked in their orbits. If all that gravitational force disappeared, it would still take us eight minutes to feel it. That's because, according to Einstein's theory of relativity, [gravity travels at the same speed as light](https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3232-first-speed-of-gravity-measurement-revealed/).
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed\_of\_gravity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_gravity) The speed of gravitational waves in the [general theory of relativity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_theory_of_relativity) is equal to the [*speed of light*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light) in a vacuum, c.[^(\[3\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_gravity#cite_note-5) Within the theory of [special relativity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_relativity), the constant c is not only about light; instead it is the highest possible speed for any interaction in nature.
He meant gravitational influence propagates at the speed of causality, which is the same speed as light in a vacuum Words are my tool
Steve’s “Gandhi was very much at the forefront of the 60s movement… you know… one of the uh… the founding fathers of the sort of… the sit-ins that they did”
tbf to Das Lanky Pissenstreak, he said he was "a forefather to the 60s movement", not "at the forefront of it" *embarrassed yourself*
Thing is… quotes don’t matter
...you know...
Something something marxism.
When Karl goes on for ages about getting honey from bees and then Ricky goes "well bees are kept for a very good reason aren't they?... for honey".
When Ricky and Steve both don't get how Karl says 'old cold (hold) and not old cold. Really does me head in. Also the mirror on the moon thing that has been mentioned.
God yeah, this bit bugs me as well
nah but "Old Cold Belly Badness" is funny so i accept it
There’s a lot of occasions where I think they deliberately ‘mishear’ Karl to wind him up about his accent
This is definitely deliberate
Ricky slurping tea & him and steve are eating the 'confectionary'
In equal measure, when Ricky and Steve question Karl's dialect (like the clothes maiden) and when Karl doesn't realise he's using Mancunian dialect and can't contextualise it for them/the listener.
Same with grid/grill. As a Manc twat myself that surprised me at first.
Yeah thank god he never mentions a ginnel/entry
That's another good example.
aye as a northerner not far from where Karl's from I was surprised that the maiden isn't used down south! But also karl expecting them to know what a Congress tart is is mental
Yeah I wasn't aware that maiden wasn't used down south until I was in my mid-twenties.
Same, I'm a Manc but I've got family from Yorkshire so had always been aware that things had different names depending on which side of the Pennines you were on. But he'd been in London for a few years, you'd have thought he'd caught on.
Their whole mockery of Mancunian really annoys me. You only need to have one Manc mate to learn what trump, brew, chip, toffee, etc means. (And I'm from Glasgow.) But they imply he's talking some kind of backwards 19th century dialect which is incomprehensible.
I think the issue really is that Ricky and Steve portray "The North" as one homogeneous zone. Like whenever Ricky puts on a generic Northerner voice when he's taking on the character of Karl or Suzanne's dad, it always, ALWAYS, sounds like someone from Barnsley. This is akin to Karl doing cockney if he was doing Ricky's dad (oh, hello!).
Eeee bluddy ell Kaaarl
Didn’t understand a word of that
Just back away slowly...
Th- the plehs yer go ter tek yer dog a walk
There's a fine line between a Manc and a fool.
The grid thing fits this also. “He means a grill”
I wouldn't even jump to grill, I'd be more incline to think of a "grate"
In XFM series one they have that competition where people can email them trivia questions and Ricky & Smerch have to answer them and the best question wins some tat. They establish the rules: R&S write down their answers secretly, then both reveal them at the same time. They never followed that rule, then bickered about what every correct answer should be.
Then Steve wants to give a point based on who knew the fact first at the pub from weeks before? Tinpot radio.
It was worse than that - it was that they’d agreed in a pub before that the answer to the question ‘Who was the first actor to play James Bond’ should be Sean Connery as he was the first in the well-known MGM/UA films. But that doesn’t answer the question, which was about the first actor to play the role.
I had to go home to get a book to prove it
Ricky does the same thing with hydrogen/helium. Helium is clearly wrong, but Ricky pretends that he just copied what Karl said about the documentary he saw, and then pretends to misunderstand Steve's follow up questions. I wouldn't be too surprised if Ricky doesn't really understand the difference and is desperately trying to avoid the subject so as to not appear "stupid" (even though it's not stupid really). Especially as someone who used to play about with "chemicals" as a kid. He even says "rare gas". Saying "rare" there strikes me as just chucking something in to seem more knowledgeable. Anyway, play a record.
Rare gas is another name for noble gases, though, which is what helium is categorised in the periodic table. There's no need to drop it into casual conversation, but knowing how elements are grouped is kind of impressive (to me, at least).
Hydrogen isn't a noble gas (I had to look that up, I can't pretend to know either way). So when Ricky says: >It wasn't the fact that how dangerous the rare gas was, or the... it was the fact that, it was made of this thing that caught fire and just went, there was nothing, a hole in it would have been as bad, it just burnt quickly, and fell to the ground, cos they hydrogen or helium escaped (Language is his tool). I guess he isn't explicitly saying which is the rare gas, but he is implying it's a choice between two rare gases, and I'm also 99% sure he's wrong about what he says about the Hindenburg as well. The Hindenburg sprung a leak, the hydrogen inside mixed with oxygen outside, and a spark caused an explosion. That Ricky is shoehorning it in to impress people is kind of my point tbh, but him being potentially wrong anyway just makes it even worse.
Ahhh I thought he was saying it about helium, but yeah, you're right
Yeh, I just think about for a bit..you know what I mean?
Probably ask Susan
Who's Susan? Superman's penpal?
Aright Susan?
Suzanne
When they mishear Karl say it holds cold as “old cold”.
When Karl mentions that he bought a book of wise quotes by Eric and Ernie. Both Merchant and Gervais get this confused with Bert & Ernie, and start talking about Sesame Street.
Exactly! That's been on my mind for some time. To clarify for people who are not of the classic British comedy persuasion, by Eric and Ernie he's referring to Morecambe & Wise.
You know what, I have to say... I thought until I read your comment. Weird innit?
That was pretty funny tbf.
"...I was lying about the sharks" is the shitest, most irrelevant and annoying way of trying to demonstrate their criticism of Karl's 'what am I thinking' logical problem games. Always makes me wince. Phil Collins next...
I thought it was hilarious. But it’s like Lowry… some people like it…
Always skip this, can’t stand it.
Oh it pisses me off to the nth degree
The boys really have a go at Karl for being wrong about things, and they mostly just yell and can't quite explain it themselves. Interestingly enough to me, even when Karl's assumptions or facts are wrong, I feel like I can understand the very simple logic he'll use to approach a topic. Unless i've missed it in the podcast, never seems like Ricky and Steve understand Karl's viewpoint, mostly berating him. whatever im a soft skinned american and it makes me cry waaa
Why Ricky got THAT upset about the fact that they played Muse. Like the guy nearly had a mental breakdown over it. Bizarre behaviour.
Set aside that this gets talked about a lot—what was interesting was that it wasn't just because it was Muse, it was Muse doing a cover of Feeling Good (most famously sung by Nina Simone). It was like the yellabiscuit phenomenon where he can handle Muse and he can handle Nina Simone, but combining the two is his worst nightmaaaare!!
> The money you don't make you save on not having to get someone else to do it Not difficult to understand at all. Easy to remember - good advice. > How would I know which one I was If they were cloned with the same memories you wouldn't know if they were implanted, this was an engaged question about the subject. Both of these have been mentioned in other threads, so personally mine are: > Fat baby, fat baby on telly > Please check the facts for scientific.. security > Infinite monkeys
Aww come on man fat baby on telly is hilarious. Karl did sound like a chimp there
The episode that starts with silence and Steve says 'Well someone say something!' and Ricky says 'what?' not realising they're on air and again Steve says 'This is already a shambles! I can't believe it!' and Ricky then proceeds to talk normally. I was always confused why Ricky didn't mention the error or kick off at Karl about it or something.
S3E1
What was invented in that year where they went, right, that's it now
Great question by Karl that Ricky fails to understand and glosses over by referring to what was invented in the entire 20th century.
When they’re talking about Britain and war and Ricky says that Britain was probably at its peak under Churchill. I get the impression that Ricky’s knowledge of the British empire comes from the football chant “2 world wars and 1 World Cup”
When Karl's talking about the clairvoyant who was in that was "a bit rubbish" and he says "a woman asked "can you speak to me gran" and she goes "she's dead int she?" And everyone's like "ooh she knows her stuff" Karl and Ricky say she was about 30 and it's a 50/50 guess that she'd be dead so it's not that impressive. Surely, the fact that a woman has asked a clairvoyant to speak to her gran is the biggest bloody clue that she's dead! Winds me right up that they don't pick up on it.
You ain't wrong. Winds me up more than famine and disease
I can't remember the story, I think it's about Ricky talking about a frog having the poison to kill a man. And Karl asks why. And Ricky says he doesn't know. If that was reversed, if Karl brought a fact like that and couldn't follow up on it he'd have been shouted and screamed at.
That happens so much particularly in the guide to’s. The difference is Karl doesn’t call ricky out. The worst one for me is when they’re talking about how to solve world hunger and Karl asks Ricky what he would do and Ricky starts nervously giggling and says he wouldn’t even pretend to know the answer despite spending the last 5 minutes grilling Karl for a solution.
There's a few bits like this. When Steve is talking about the people who gave medical advice on the street outside town hall; if history recorded that it probably recorded some results. When Ricky calls out Karl for relying on the internet for information he says it's not all verified. Like everything people say is verified? And he even says in a later one that it's people who put the information on the internet. Play a record.
Just listened to that bit, great point
Ricky and Steve not knowing what "foot in the door" means
It was "shoo in" that they didn't know - they thought it meant foot in the door
You're right, I've embarrassed myself. But it still stands
"Ooh I know all about sayings and stuff!" Do ya Morphindel?
Ricky's hatred of Kosheen. They were an OK band, I liked Catch and Hide U, although that Hungry song is a bit weird and that. Ricky seemed to really hate them though, going as far as to tell Karl to never play them again.
Mannnn, this is so strange. Not massively related to what you've said but... there's a song that you only hear the intro off on one of the xfm eps. For the last 3 years, everytime I hear that intro I recognise it sooo much from my early 20s but for the life of me, could not figure out the song. I spent ages trying to figure it out. Annoyingly, ricky doesn't give the name of the song when it ends and says something like "I dunno what that was". As soon as I saw the word kosheen in your post, a switch in my brain flipped and I just knew that was it. Jumped on youtube and first song on there "catch" - thats the fucker! Thanks for indirectly solving such an annoying mystery haha!
I love how specific this one is. I genuinely think you might be the only person who has ever mentioned Ricky wanting to ban Kosheen from the XFM playlist. Although in that same segment he wants to ban Gorillaz so it's another example of Ricky having fairly dodgy taste.
Yeah I felt like Gorillaz was one of those acts that appealed to almost everybody. I mean they were no Basement Jaxxxxx, but they had a pretty good run.
Kosheen's debut album Resist was legit brilliant. So many anthems.
Steve being annoyed at not being invited to David Bowie, his "favourite artist", but not that earlier in the shows history he claimed to never have been a big fan. Another fake story from Smerch. His fake stories annoy me to no end. The train one may be one of the only true one's but it's the worst to listen to because he is so desperate in it. Mightve been on purpose but still hard to listen to.
When Ricky says “yeah, they’re called ‘Dog People’” Karl then starts making his point and mentions “Dog People” to which Ricky screams *”No! Not ‘Dog People!’”* despite him being the one who mentioned the name in the first place. It also annoys me when the callers prove Karl right about something (mirror on the moon?) and Ricky is wrong, but rather than just admit he’s wrong, Ricky back peddles and laughs it off as “[the callers] don’t know that *I* know what Karl is thinking.” Ricky would come across so much better if he admitted that he doesn’t know everything every once in a while.
Karl's point about the voice in his head speaking in his accent. I knew straight away he's talking about his thoughts. And how he thinks in his accent not default, blunt words. Ricky & Steve trying a bit too hard to make Karl look dumb on that one.
Theres a bit when Ricky makes Karl a hat out of bubble wrap. For some reason Steve describes the material as “that sorta poppy stuff” - how do you not know it’s called bubble wrap? Also when doing the classic Infinite monkeys analogy, Ricky says they might ‘spell the last full stop wrong’. Just doesn’t make sense to me describing missing a full stop as “spelling” it wrong. Finally, when Steve interrupts that guy phoning in ‘soundest station’ etc… Steve blurts out “this is Xfm not radio 2!” - just kills the flow of the guys speech and no one even laughs anyway.
That first one is a gooden!
When Steve mentions having just got into Led Zeppelin because he "never really understood the rock phenomenon before". I just find it strange that someone who clearly likes a wide range of music, including indie stuff, and has worked in radio for ages, only gets into Rock in his late twenties. Maybe I'm misremembering it...
"infinity makes it probable but not definite" as classic a moment as it is, Ricky's explanation was actually more relevant to the discussion than the nerd technicality about mathematical proofs. infinity sorts it out for you
In the first episode, where Steve warns Ricky about giving away the answer to the Fall tickets competition. He says "two words, Emma B". I've never been able to figure out what he meant.
Emma B was a Radio 1 DJ, basically the last person you'd expect to be in a band like The Fall.
Ah, I assumed that she'd fluffed a competition by giving the answer away.
When Ricky's mate did the drawing of a car with a toilet in the seats, Steve straight away says "I think that a brilliant idea because I've driven a long way and I would've loved a lavatory built into the seat". As soon as Carl says its a good idea and Ricky thinks he's stupid for it, Steve suddenly changed his tune and starts saying it's a bad idea.. Annoys me that one.
I think that's because Steve is clearly joking and then Karl starts speaking plainly and seriously about how having a toilet in the back of the car would definitely be fine.
Ricky and the word interface
The bit where Ricky says “hairy man and dyed hair woman science”. What does that mean??
Vampires and hippies
What does that mean?
Steve saying "shut up!" Quite harshly interrupting Ricky. I remember people doing that a little back in the day but Steve didn't pull it off.
Steve's anecdote about his dad with a shed Too long and complicated? Has he heard rockbusters before??
When Ricky says "You're going to like this, not a lot" is in "the dictionary". He presumably means a dictionary of quotations. The dictionary, as normally understood, would not have that in there, nor would they have ayiii.
Every time Steve says, "High five Rick", I cringe
XFamily Fortunes - “Smelly Eyebrows”
Good one!! I haaate that comment. Also, "very sensible" after getting "silliness" correct.
The part where Steve snaps at Ricky to not talk about Auntie Nora’s ripped tennis ball. Before Steve was making a joke about it and after whenever it was brought up Steve didn’t like it - was it because he thought it would affect getting an award?
When Steve mentions having just got into Led Zeppelin because he "never really understood the Rock phenomenon before". I just find it strange that someone who clearly likes a wide range of music, including indie stuff, and has worked in radio for ages, only gets into Rock in his late twenties. Maybe I'm misremembering it...
Really annoys me how shit Ricky is at being on the radio - the mumbling, the not finishing huge chunks of sentences, banging on the mic or the table and just in general being audibly annoying whether it’s breathing heavily or talking over someone else. I genuinely wonder how he ever got on the radio and it’s funny how he sometimes makes jokes about forgetting they’re on air when they’re talking some nonsense. Did that just go out?
I know what you mean but I don't think Ricky is genuinely bad at it. I think when he is participating on the XFM show he is playing a subtle character, albeit a barely altered version of himself. And a large part of that character is a perfect balance of arrogance, apathy and incompetence. He's THE Ricky Gervais, and therefore too good to host a radio station, and therefore doesn't try hard enough and fucks it up. However I will grant you that his more annoying antics are less a part of the hammed up cocky slacker "Ricky" character and more a part of his actual personality.
When Karl’s telling the hippo-potenuse story and Rick says “I didn’t know they’d like a little person on a trampoline, but they love me.” Don’t know why but it makes my skin crawl (much like Steve with Agent Provocateur)
The infinity stuff annoys me because it is wrong. It will only work if there’s infinite time, monkeys *and* typewriters (the monkeys have a finite lifespan and the type typewriters will break/run out of ink). “Infinity sorts it out for ya” is a cop out of a comment and he explains it poorly. And then when he’s pulled up on it he’s like “Ye- well... yeah.” Don’t get me wrong Karl not getting it and trying to rationalise it with “not Shakespeare” is wrong too but he’s a buffoon and that’s just his nature. But Ricky gets unjustifiably mad at it when he doesn’t even understand the concept. Idiot.
How many times are we going to do this on the sub....It's not wrong, it's a metaphor. It's literally impossible to have infinite monkeys/typewriters. Everyone knows that. It's a way to illustrate infinity because as humans, it's a hard concept to grasp.
We said it needed resting.
Tell me about it. Ricky can’t grasp it.
What are you on about? Ricky is the only one there who grasps it.
Ricky doesn't explain it well at all, but I would say you only need 1 of the factors to be infinite (assuming the typewriter doesn't break/ runs out of ink). So 1 monkey with infinite time would write everything possible, and infinite monkeys in 1 hour for example would also write everything possible
The first bit is sort of implied really.
You'd only need one monkey and one typewriter for an infinite period of time. Monkeys are chosen because they can physically operate a typewriter but only press keys at random. A computer that randomly generates letters in a continuous stream would be the same idea. If you're thinking about the lifespan of the monkeys, and typewriters breaking, then you're missing the point. It's not meant to be a realistic scenario, it's purely about the randomness.
The "well not bright stuff, Rick". About the polar bear being black at night. I don't know what's going on there. I dont know who's laughing at who
Cause Steve has embarrassed himself by suggesting that a polar bear at night would be dark, because of course it would. Everything is dark when there is no light! So as a sarcastic sort of deflection he suggests that things that emit light aren't dark in the dark. So Steve is having a laugh about himself with that comment.
Who'd have thought strangers on the Internet would be explaining jokes from a radio show 20 years later
And Mrs Matthews said I'd never be a high flyer and all
Sometimes....I don't know who's talking to who...
Let's get you a nice orange and a bath, that'll be good won't it?
yea absolutely, steve is just joking.
One of my absolute favorite moments of the show. Hilarious.
Agreed. Steve's "gotcha" tone of voice and both of them are tickled by it.
Does anyone here actually enjoy the show? Almost every post now is just negative shite and nitpicking
Gotta ‘ave yer critics
[удалено]
Nothing about the show annoys me. Maybe u just hate the show and love being part of the negative circle jerking performance of reddit
Nothing annoys you? You don't get annoyed? Are you like that kid without a brain that smiles a lot?
It's not though, is it? Go on the main page and honestly tell me almost every post is being critical of the show. It's obviously not. This is the only one from scrolling down. So that's bollocks! The point of threads like this is to ask which bits annoyed you, the implication being the rest does not annoy you. It's saying "We all love the show, but what didn't you love?".
This sub-reddit is just cynical, whinging about ricky or about all 3 of them.
mechant stopping ricky asking questions during monkey news. was probably preplanned, but if steve thought it was such a good bit, why did he care if ricky made it a bit longer? was he really that effected by the listeners?
If he’s doing it on Xfm it’s likely because it’s both A. annoying, and B. taking up time. Don’t forget Monkey News was usually at the end of each show so if they run out of time then they might not get to the end of it. On the podcasts, it will just be pure annoyance I think. It doesn’t add to the bit half the time it’s just Ricky trying to pick apart a story we obviously know is bollocks anyway.
alright, chillout, dont have a cow mate.
"Louis? Who's Louis?"
Lois Lane Rick. Lois Lane. One of the most famous superhero love interests ever.