Karl Pilkington

Karl Pilkington became known from his time on "The Ricky Gervais Show" in early 2000s. Started in 2001, the radio show consisted of Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington. Despite the name, the show centered mainly on Karl. The show aired for a few years and gained a large increase in following when it was released as a podcast in the later part of 2005. It was so popular, that it was in the 2007 Guinness World Record for the most downloaded podcast in the world. The show was then converted to an animated series in 2010.

Pilkington met Gervais and Merchant at XFM while working as a producer. The friendship led to his role on The Ricky Gervais Show. His odd thoughts on many subjects -- ranging from childhood events to inventions to animals in space -- garnered him a following. Karl's oftentimes out there opinions combined with Ricky and Steve's shock, amusement, insults and ridicule, and just general input made the animated series a show to remember.

In 2010, the travel documentary "An Idiot Abroad" aired. It gave Karl the opportunity to host his own show where he is sent all around the globe by his friends -- Ricky and Steve -- who also acted as the series' producers.

Now, one would imagine that the host of a travel documentary series would love traveling. They would embrace the idea that "travel broadens the mind" and would thoroughly enjoy exploring new lands and the cultures that define them. Karl however, makes it plainly obvious that global travel doesn't interest him in the slightest. Aside from his native England, and Wales (where he has vacationed in the past), Karl has no real interest in traveling. Ricky constantly attempts to make Karl miserable by scheduling him to engage in various activities while he's traveling.

The first series of the show involved Karl traveling to the Seven Wonders of the world. In each episode, Karl traveled to a new country and visited one of the country's great sights; these included: the Great Wall of China, Great Pyramid of Giza, Dead Sea, Taj Mahal, among others. The second series' focus was Karl's bucket list (a list created by Ricky and Steve and modified to make Karl miserable) where each episode was spent traveling to one or two countries to participate in an activity that the country was known for. The third series introduced actor Warwick Davis as Karl's travel companion for a three part special. Each series ended with an episode devoted to Karl, Ricky, Steve, and Warwick (in series 3) sitting together and providing a commentary on the series.

Around every corner, Karl sees and mentions something he doesn't like. Recalling the series, I can't seem to recall a single thing he liked during his time on the show. Most of the moments that Karl did enjoy were surrounded and eclipsed by his incessant moaning and whinging. I would bet that the show is nigh impossible to watch without laughing. I watched it on Netflix a few years ago and fell in love with it mere moments into the first episode. I looked at Karl and saw myself -- an older, bald, and more miserable version.

Unlike An Idiot Abroad, "The Moaning of Life" took Karl to places he chose to visit. His aim in the show was to see how other countries deal with some of life's biggest issues in their unique cultures. The first series tackled marriage, happiness, kids, vocation & money, and death. While the second series tackled art, identity, how to live your life, the body, waste, and time. Each episode encompassed one topic and involved Karl travelling to multiple countries. The Moaning of Life gave Karl the opportunity to improve upon his performance in his first travel documentary while also exposing the viewers to new cultures and their ways of dealing with and/or interacting with certain aspects of life.

In 2018, "Sick of It" was released. A melancholic comedy that was actually created and written by Karl along with Richard Yee -- who also served as the director of the series. Unlike the travel documentaries mentioned above, Sick of It was Karl's first fictional work.

The two season series follows Karl, a taxi driver in London, in the aftermath of his recent breakup. Whilst living with his elderly aunt, he attempts to rebuild the broken parts of his life. However, the part of the show that really makes Karl shine, is the introduction of the "inner voice" character. Karl's inner voice, whilst in his head, takes shape as a Doppelganger who criticizes and sometimes guides Karl through his daily life.

Sick of It is a great series that keeps your attention and refuels your need for some Pilkington in your life. Despite not wanting intending for the show to be a comedy, Karl's actions in the show can't help to make the viewer laugh and smile as the show's protagonist encounters the chores of daily life through the lens of a broken man.

In recent years, Karl Pilkington's popularity has grown substantially. Especially, with An Idiot Abroad and The Moaning of Life coming to Netflix in the U.S. In addition to the above, Karl was also in Ricky Gervais' series "Derek" as Dougie. The brilliant Englishman has also written and released several works:

• The World of Karl Pilkington (2006)
• Happyslapped by a Jellyfish (2007)
• Karlology: What I've Learnt So Far (2008)
• An Idiot Abroad: The Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington (2010)
• The Further Adventures of An Idiot Abroad (2012)
• The Moaning of Life: The Worldly Wisdom of Karl Pilkington (2013)
• More Moaning: The Enlightened One Returns (2016)

Karl Pilkington makes no attempt to pretend or in any way fake his feelings. Whether it's his television shows, books, or numerous public appearances. The man enjoys spending most of his time wondering about the mundane aspects of life as opposed to the profound. Through his several avenues, it's apparent that Karl is rather content with his life. He has no aspirations to become big and famous, no need to become rich, and even needed to be pushed to involve himself in his many shows. I find Karl Pilkington to be refreshing; he's evidence that it's possible to enjoy your life as it is and find joy and wonder in the infinitely mundane and common parts of one's life.

I had a desire to write a bit about Karl Pilkington...I suppose it was because I enjoy him so much. Whether you're a fan of him already, or you've never heard of him, take a look at one of his shows and read one of his books. You won't regret it.