Pilkington's Perspective

Allow me to introduce you to another Mancunian– a man named Karl Pilkington.

I don’t know him personally.

Ricky Gervais, the brains behind “The Office” and “Extras” regards Karl Pilkington as the funniest man on the planet and  a “round headed buffoon” and spends most of his time howling with laughter at him.

I first encountered Karl Pilkington on “The Ricky Gervais Show” which is an animated representation of radio podcasts involving Ricky Gervais, his writing partner Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington. Basically, the basis of the show is Gervais and Merchant asking Karl Pilkington about his views on life and then roaring with laughter at the answers.

You see, Karl Pilkington has a weird perspective on life and, in many ways he really is one of the funniest men on the planet. I caught the show one Friday night having come back from the pub and I almost had a seizure laughing at this guy.

Here are a couple of examples.





In what seemed to be an expensive practical joke, they sent poor Pilkington to see the Seven Wonders of the World. You would have expected him to see the wonders in style, flying first class and staying in five star hotels. But no – they didn’t do that. They made him stay in hostels and organised all sorts of bizarre experiences for him.

It was hilarious.

And they called is “An Idiot Abroad”. Basically Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant threw Karl in at the deep end, well out of his comfort zone and howled with laughter from afar.

It was brilliant. Here is a clip of Karl struggling in China.



Finally, here are some of Karl’s best bits.