An Idiot Abroad

[Dynasty]

I give you Ricky Gervais, Steve Merchant and the world's funniest, stupidest man; Karl Pilkington.

Ricky and Steve send Karl on a worldwide documentary trip to visit the 7 wonders of the world, debuting on Sky One at the end of the month.

This trio have become legendary here in the UK due to the Ricky Gervais Podcast, and as radio DJs.

I still cant decide if Gervais's laugh is infectious or annoyingly high-pitched.

Here's their official preview show of the show to give you an idea of what Karl is like in the documentary. I challenge anyone not to laugh at Karl Pilkington.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUTH1coLIWE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TChZa-GfAtA&playnext_from=QL&feature=bf_play&playnext=1

Havent laughed this long or this hard watching something so short.

 

[knut]

saw the preview the other night at my mates, was great. eagerly looking forward to this, still undecided on how stupid karl really is and how much of this is going to be fake-hate, but it still looks funny.

 

[Vegeta897]

I don't get why this is funny.

And yes I watched UK Office and enjoyed it very much.

This is just... what?

 

[Unfocused]

At first I thought this guy is just fake hating this stuff trying to be funny, but it seems his behaviour is more genuine than I initially thought. He says some hilarious stuff

 

[knut]

I don't get why this is funny.

And yes I watched UK Office and enjoyed it very much.

This is just... what?

karl pilkington is a friend of ricky and stephen's. he is a niave, ignorant, small minded and generally bewildered individual who likes the simple things in life, and is ridiculed by the two for his crazy and insane theories on life. to an extent, i found him quite believable as a silly man on podcasts, the ricky gervais show and the ilk, but i think some of this may be scripted but i dunno, maybe not.

 

[Vegeta897]

Yeah I get the premise, but it's just not making me laugh watching this. Ricky seems to be laughing way too hard.

 

[Shakermaker]

Ricky seems to be laughing way too hard.

Yeah, that is very annoying. Plus not very convincing.

That Pilkington dude is funny though. About the Great Wall: "It goes on goes for miles and miles over the hills, but so does the M6."

 

[knut]

well, to be fair, this sit-down is the retrospective of the entire 7 or 8 episode long series that is an idiot abroad so i'm guessing ricky is relating a lot of the conversation back to what he's already seen from the footage and even still, this isn't the final thing anyway. the man does laugh a lot, mind.

the ricky gervais show is pretty funny. i'm sure there is some clips on youtube worth checking out.

 

[stemot]

Looking forward to this. Karl Pilkington is an anomaly in terms of stupidity.

 

[Wanted Bob]

Karl Pilkington is pretty damn funny

 

[CptStern]

much thanks. been listening to the podcast for a few months now. karl is hilarious

 

[Dynasty]

He just says things exactly the way he understands them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPI49SFxMBA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSVQI8cAxYg&feature=related

Perfect example of his idiocy, a reading from his diary.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Can't wait for the series, followed the trio since xfm days in 2001. Never get bored of listening to the shows or podcasts. I nearly died watching that preview show, I'm not sure if the manc-drone accent that Karl does translates well. One of the main problems being that people think it's all an act. Fortunately it isn't

 

[knut]

oh i don't think it's all an act, but i'm still skeptical every now and again esp. since in the last few years everything to do with gervais has mostly been centered around karl. regarding going abroad, i can easily imagine him hating being in the jungle or the desert, but then there's things like the great wall or other wonders that you just need to stand back and admire and it's then that i think it might be fake-hate, but i'm not calling him out on it.

 

[CptStern]

I'm not sure if the manc-drone accent that Karl does translates well.

reminds me of Baldrick from Blackadder

as a canadian with little exposure to the differences between UK accents I can say that it translates well

 

[TwwIX]

I can see myself chuckling at it a few times. I just don't see it being very fun without Ricky's and Stephen's commentary.
Karl's ignorance alone isn't that entertaining.

 

[The Monkey]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQBlZIXu3Yg

He's great, but I agree with TwwIX, I'm not sure how it will work out without Ricky and Steve.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Episode 1 was screened last night on Sky one, I nearly died laughing. If you're interested you can find the 1st episode on the internet...somehow.

 

[knut]

watching this now, laughing pretty hard at it. he doesn't even need ricky or stephen to bounce questions or thoughts off of, he's just asking them and discovering things to complain about as he does. it's brill.

 

[Laivasse]

I shared the doubts about the absence of Ricky and Steve, but I caught up with the first episode the other day and found it hilarious. It could end up as my favourite telly of the year if the rest of the series is as good.

For what it's worth, I'm convinced Karl is almost entirely genuine in the way he acts, it's just that his delivery has gotten more deadpan now that he knows he can make people laugh with it. I'll always remember back when Ricky and Steve found out Karl's school exam results, which he had never bothered to check up on, and revealed them to him live on air on XFM. It was comedy gold but you could hear he was actually hurt. That moment was proof positive for me of how funny, genuine and stupid Karl really is.