Richard Herring, the comedian known for his work with Stewart Lee, is facing criticism over jokes in his 2010 memoir How Not to Grow Up, in which he describes staring at the legs of a girl who may have been as young as 15.
The passage has resurfaced online, prompting reactions from social media users who have questioned how such material came to be published.
Passage from the memoir
In the book, Herring recalls being in his late 30s and finding himself "sitting opposite some pretty young women" wearing "short and flimsy dresses" on a summer day. He wrote that he could not stop staring at their legs and described himself as "openly gawping at them like a pervert."
He added: "It wasn't my proudest moment. These young women were probably about eighteen years old. I was over twenty years their senior. Even I had to admit it was a little seedy."
Herring went on to speculate that the women "might even have been seventeen years old," before insisting they were "definitely over sixteen." He then acknowledged they "might have been fifteen," adding: "If a 39-year-old man can't stare lasciviously at the bare legs of a fifteen-year-old girl then Al-Qaeda has won."
He later claimed the girls were "definitely over sixteen because they were in the sixth form: I heard them talking about it," calling it "almost a charming tale."
Social media reaction
The memoir was previously praised by Frank Skinner, who is quoted on the title page as calling it "really, really funny," but readers encountering the passage now have expressed a different view.
One X user wrote: "With Walliams' and Brand's books/biographies and comments coming to light, remember there are MANY famous men who make these jokes about underage girls. If they're comfortable to publish it in a book, what does that say about what the industry allows in private?"
Another asked: "How many people did this thing go through before being published?!" A third pointed to a sketch from Stewart Lee and Richard Herring's Fist of Fun programme, while another called the sixth form reference "f***ing repulsive."
Express.co.uk has reached out to Herring's representatives for comment.
