Coaching kids to curse

The cursing toddler co-star of the Internet hit “The Landlord” has left show biz. But there are plenty of other potty-mouthed children waiting to fill her shoes.

“The Landlord,” a short video starring actor Will Ferrell, got more than 37 million views on funnyordie.com before director Adam McKay announced last week his 2-year-old daughter, Pearl, would be “retiring.” The message was appended to her follow-up video with Ferrell called “Good Cop, Baby Cop.”

But Pearl’s performance in “The Landlord” – in which she plays a beer-toting harpie demanding the rent – has inspired tribute videos, some of them featuring children. One stars two 10- and 11-year-old boys, who posted their line-by-line recreation of the video on YouTube.

The copycat cussing was just what critics had feared.

“The real danger of ‘The Landlord’ is that other parents will not only have their kids emulate Pearl’s performance, but, unfortunately, try and outdo it,” said Jan Wagman, a California based psychotherapist who works with children.

But a popular spoof called “The Kegger” doesn’t feature the filmmakers’ kids. They cast child actors instead.

In the video, also posted on Funnyordie, parents come home to find a pair of drunk, rebellious toddlers have trashed the house, including a boy with underpants on his head. When he’s threatened with a call home, he replies with a familiar five-letter expletive that is considered demeaning to women.

The 3-year-old who played the part, however, was reluctant to curse in real life.

“He said ‘witch,’ ” said producer Brian Bartelt, who added a profane subtitle, similar to the subtitles in “The Landlord.”

Marta Costello, a Los Angeles writer and actress who wrote and starred in the video, defended her choice of material.

“When I’m writing comedy, for me what’s funny is the juxtaposition, when you put two things together that don’t really fit,” she said. “Everyone knows toddlers wouldn’t do that in reality.”

There was also a statement from the YouTube e-mail address of the grade school “Landlord” imitators.

“It’s OK with this kid. He … watches “South Park” and “The Family Guy” more than any other kid on the block. I assure you he is not learning anything,” replied Bigboibrown17, who would not give his name, age or location.

Other videos on YouTube tagged “kids cursing” and unrelated to “The Landlord” show children using profanity and racial epithets.

With titles like “Baby Kyle Cursing” and “Baby Says a Bad Word,” some feature footage in which parents inadvertently capture their infants swearing. Others show parents or older siblings coaching kids to curse, and laughing at the results.

For some experts, its proof of how low we’ve sunk as a culture.

“It’s just one more step in the breakdown of our social order,” says psychologist Charles Konia of Easton, Pa. “Children are being taught that this is OK.”

Others questioned the impact on the child.

“If they’re given mixed messages: ‘When you’re with this person, you can act like this, but when you’re with your friends, you can’t talk or act like that,’ that would be confusing,” says New York-based psychologist Carl Arinoldo, author of “Essentials of Smart Parenting.”

But Mitch Galbraith, CEO of FunnyorDie, said that Pearl McKay – the niece of actor Jeremy Piven – was unscathed by the experience.

“Her parents were involved with both videos. She had a great time, ate some chocolate and has moved on with her life as a normal, happy little girl,” said Galbraith.

Its success illustrates the fine line between humor and offensiveness, say comics. For most of us, cursing kids represent innocence corrupted, but because Pearl is so young, viewers laugh, according to Barry Dougherty, a spokesman for the Friars Club in Los Angeles.

“She’s sort of the perfect age to do this, because it still comes out as child babble,” he said. “There’s no hint that this child knows what she’s talking about. There’s still an innocence. If she were 5 or 6, it wouldn’t be funny.”

The fact that Ferrell is such a beloved comedian helped, too.

“I think there’s a trust factor that comes with celebrities,” said Dougherty, who is also a comedy writer. “It’s a given that they’re doing it purely for humor, whereas if your average Joe posted a video with a kid swearing you wonder, ‘Why is this person doing this?’ “