...but only for an ITV experiment

The comic filmed a cleaned-up version of his set at the Porthole Comedy Club at Kilburn this week for ITV’s Tonight With Sir Trevor McDonald.

And he went on to film a separate routine in a separate clu which he ‘had to swear as much as possible’.

Writing on his Warming Up blog, Herring said: ‘The team behind the programme clearly wanted to show that swearing was not necessary to be amusing, which is of course true, but that fact does not mean that it isn't sometimes really funny to swear. There's room for both Morecambe and Wise and Pete and Dud in the comedy firmament.’

The experiments come in response to a recent article by Frank Skinner, in which he said he exorcised all but the most crucial four-letter words from his one-man show, with no ill effects.

Published: 16 Dec 2008