Rosie Jones tells Ricky Gervais and Jimmy Carr to ‘shut the f**k up’ over trans jokes and gives update on train attack (EXCLUSIVE)
Jones outlines three key steps for approaching comedy as she gears up for a second season of Out Of Order
By Aaron Sugg
Rosie Jones shared her brutally honest view on when comedy goes too far and revealed how she’s coping after being targeted in an alleged homophobic train attack.
Speaking exclusively to Attitude ahead of her upcoming second series of Out Of Order landing on Comedy Central from 5 January, she took aim at comedians who make inappropriate jokes about the trans community.
“It’s your Ricky Gervases, Jimmy Carrs,” Jones said. “It’s just your privileged cis white straight men who open their newspaper and go, ‘Oh, people are talking about trans people. I can know a bit about that without experiencing it at all.’”
“With respect, shut the fuck up” – Rosie Jones to comedians who make insensitive jokes about minorities
“No,” she added. “To those boys, I’d say, with respect, shut the fuck up.” Her comments follow Jimmy Carr’s Laughs Funny tour stop on 10 October, during which the comedian praised transphobic Father Ted creator Graham Linehan, saying he admired his “bravery”.
Jones went on to offer her advice on how to tell a joke responsibly, breaking it down into three key steps. “Before you tell a joke, you need to analyse it, and that comes down to three things,” she said.
“First, who are you? Do you have lived experience, or experience close to you?” said the comedian. “Second, who is your joke about? What is your intention – is it positive or negative? Are you punching up or punching down?”
“Stop telling cheap fucking jokes and leave it to the brilliant trans people” – Jones criticising comics who are inappropriate jokes about trans people
“And third, why are you telling the joke?” Jones continued. “Are you asking a question to open up a conversation and make people think differently, or are you saying it simply to be controversial?”
On jokes targeting trans people, she was unequivocal. “It’s none of their fucking business. Stop telling cheap fucking jokes and leave it to the brilliant trans people who live in that world.”
Gearing up for a second season of Out Of Order alongside following its success in 2024, Jones said her favourite episode was the recent Christmas special featuring John Richardson and Josh Riddickham.
Out Of Order series two returns to Comedy Central from 5 January 2026
Before becoming a stand-up comedian, Jones worked as a researcher on 8 Out of 10 Cats with Richardson and The Last Leg with Riddickham, making the episode feel like a reversal of roles.
Out Of Order is one of Jones’s most prominent presenting roles. Aside from her work on Comedy Central’s Rosie Tries to Help and her regular panel and game-show appearances, it is the first programme in which she serves as the main host.
She described landing the role as an emotional moment, explaining that seeing “a queer woman with a physical disability looking great, being funny, being in control, owning her shell” would have been revolutionary when she was growing up.
While panel-show hosts typically handle rules and voiceovers, Jones’s disability means she approaches the format differently. Instead, she leans into her comedy persona, allowing others to take on certain elements or adapting the staging in ways that work for her.
Jones gave an update on how she is feeling after she and friend Lee Peart were allegedly attacked on a train
Though unfortunately for Jones, this hosting job came at a difficult time. In October 2025, Jones and her friend Lee Peart were victims of an alleged homophobic and ableist attack on a train returning from a comedy night in Brighton.
Months later, she admitted it is still taking a mental toll as police investigations remain ongoing. “What I will say is it was so upsetting and so shocking because all me and my friend and colleague Lee were trying to do was get back from work,” Jones said.
She described the frustration of being targeted despite years of personal growth and professional achievement: “From a disability angle and a queer angle, I can work on myself, be a good person, go through therapy, be ambitious, work every day for the past 10 years, achieve all my dreams, write books, be political, set up my own foundations, really feel like I’m achieving and making the world better,” she said.
“And then a stranger reminds me that I’m still a victim.” Jones highlighted that incidents like this demonstrate how far society still has to go in recognising and respecting disabled and queer people.
Out Of Order returns to Comedy Central at 9pm on 5 January 2026.
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