After being sent around the world by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, Karl Pilkington is going it alone for his new series, The Moaning of Life.

Fans of Pilkington’s travels across three series of An Idiot Abroad should rest assured that this new programme – in which he travels the world to experience how other cultures face up to life’s big issues – retains the look, feel and downright hilarity of his previous shows.

After all, the 5 x 60-minute series is made by Me & You Productions, the indie set up by An Idiot Abroad producers Richard Yee and Krishnendu Majumdar last year, so much of the crew is the same.

Following a screening of an episode about marriage, in which Pilkington travels to India, Los Angeles and Las Vegas to explore some very different ways that people meet and tie the knot, the straight-talking explorer took part in a Q&A session.

He talked about an excess of people crying in TV series; how he’s only just got Sky; why he doubts the episode on death will ever be shown; and why he won’t be seen as much in series two of Ricky Gervais’ Channel 4 sitcom, Derek.

Heat magazine’s Boyd Hilton, who conducted the Q&A, opened with a reference to a scene in the episode where Pilkington swaps animal trivia with a potential date.

BH: I was impressed with your wombat knowledge, that they do square poo’s.

KP: Start with a killer question… It’s just the sort of thing I like, little nuggets of information. I found out the other day that lobsters and jellyfish don’t die of old age.

BH: What do you mean? What do they die of?

KP: They don’t. Unless something catches them, they can live forever. If Attenborough was sat here and said that you wouldn’t laugh. The sea is a dangerous place so the chances of them getting old are slim but - if they do dodge stuff - they can live to be really old.

BH: Anyway… your previous shows for Sky have been huge hits but every time there’s a new series you always say it’s the last. So what changed your mind this time?

KP: I mean, it’s always money. Being honest, that’s the main reason. I did moan a lot on An Idiot Abroad but after it was over I realised that the memories of it were quite good. So even though at the time I never enjoy it - and it was the same with this one - afterwards I go “That was alright”. This one was something different and not about staying in shitty hotels and stuff like that. It was topics from marriage and kids to happiness, vocation and death.

BH: The idea of you exploring these big topics, whose idea was that? Was it partly your idea?

KP: I think it was mine. The point is, I was interested enough to go “Yeah, that sounds good,” because they are big topics, and things that everyone talks about - getting married and having kids and that, and I haven’t done any of them. But that’s what made it good.

BH: You’ve been seeing your girlfriend for quite a few years so I’m fascinated by whether you check with her first about what you’re going to do and say about her in these shows.

KP: No. What’s the point? What’s the best that can happen doing that? I like to just wander in, ask whatever questions, and then get out - and whatever happens, happens. I think if you start worrying about what people might say, I don’t see the fun in it.

BH: Do you ever worry about her reaction?

KP: No. We’ve only just got Sky and when you’ve got Sky, there’s loads of channels so there’s always something else to watch anyway. So we’ll watch it eventually cos it’s on every night, innit. It’s on all the time, so she is gonna see it one day. But I just don’t worry about it. I’ve been with her for years she knows what I’m like. And I said some nice things about her.

BH: You do call her plump at one point. Do you think she’s happy with that?

KP: It depends how you use that word. I don’t see that as a bad word. What I mean is… she’s not unhealthily thin.

BH: Right. Normal is a word.

KP: No, because what’s normal these days? It was a word that came in me head, and she won’t be offended by that. When I use that word, I mean Martine McCutcheon-style - I think she’s a healthy-looking woman.

FILMING ON THE HOOF

BH: One of my favourite things about this show is that it’s very natural. You and the producer say we’re gonna go here and meet this person and you don’t pre-meet them first, right?

KP: Yeah. That’s how I prefer it. I think Ricky and Steve knew that when we did An Idiot Abroad. I don’t like time to sit around and worry about stuff. When I’m just going in somewhere and I don’t really know what’s going on, it’s the best way.

BH: Some people think it’s all scripted.

KP: I couldn’t do it. I wish it was because it would make the trip a lot easier because we go away for nine, ten days and film hours and hours of stuff.

BH: When you watch yourself back, do you get surprised by your reactions? For example, in the pheromone dating scene where an attractive woman is interested in you, we can tell you’re quite flattered by that.

KP: Yeah. Did I pick her T-shirt or did she pick mine?

Audience: You picked hers and blanked another woman.

KP: I know. She was nice enough but I got a better offer. That is life. But I enjoyed that. A pheromone party is quite a good idea. If someone stinks you can’t live with them - no matter how good looking they are. It’s like when you’ve got dog shit on your shoes and you can’t think about anything else whilst that’s in the room. It’s the same with someone who stinks, it doesn’t matter if they look really good. You’re just thinking they smell like shit.

BH: In this episode you could have come away with a new girlfriend - a new wife!

KP: Honestly, that was proper mental. I was in there for about an hour and they were serious. I got a text from the woman later asking about going for a coffee - so it could have happened. And yeah, I quite liked her. Some people say the arranged marriage thing isn’t quite right but I think I’d be happy with it as a way of meeting someone.

BH: I noticed you didn’t want someone who read Heat, though. What’s up with that?

KP: You know what your magazine’s like. I just wouldn’t want it round the house. I’m not having a go.

FILMING DEATH

BH: In a future episode you deal with death. What can you tell us about that?

KP: Even before I got a job on Sky, I always wanted to do a programme about death. It interests me so it came about, doing it in this one.

I’d never been to a funeral, and I went to my first funeral in Ghana, on the programme, and I had to get involved with a dead body. I sort of knew there was going to be a dead body in the room but it really… I don’t know if it’s going to go out on telly to be honest because it’s that mental. They haven’t finished editing it and Sky might say: “This isn’t right. We’re usually showing programmes about Greggs the bakers.”

I really had to get involved in it, pushing this old woman, because over there, funerals are celebrated - it’s not bad. It’s probably the biggest thing that happens in your life.

It’s almost like living is about death because that’s the biggest moment you’ll have – the biggest party, but you won’t really be there. So they were like “Yeah, we’d love to have it filmed”.

But I was pushing her legs over her head and everything… and having to stand her up in the corner of a room. Proper mad.

EMOTING PRESENTERS

BH: Having investigated these topics, did you ever come out of it thinking “I should get married” or “I should have kids”?

KP: You know I’m not like that. I’m not one of those people who turn up and go [mock crying] “What am I going to do? Is this going to affect my life?” That’s what people are used to on the telly. Someone going on a journey and at the end they’re crying. There’s none of that shit.

There are more emotions than just crying. Everyone’s crying on the telly. I don’t think you need it. The things we’re looking at are mental so we don’t need a shot of someone crying. If you need crying to make something interesting it’s shit. It is though, it annoys me. Every fucking programme. Someone gets a new garden and they’re crying.

So I’m not gonna cry but it doesn’t mean I’m not moved by something. I don’t have that emotion. I’ve had a lump in my throat, watching a sad film, but I’m not one for crying.

So I don’t want kids. I wasn’t gonna get to the end and go: “Ooh, I’ve been on a journey. What a mistake I’ve made. Yes let’s have kids, let’s get at it now.” It’s never gonna happen, I’ve made up my mind. I’m 40. But I was open to it.

BH: You go to a sperm bank in one episode.

KP: Yeah. Getting paid to have a wank. That was in Japan. I knew that morning when I got up that I was gonna have my sperm tested. When the time came, there was proper pressure. You’ve got a camera crew waiting outside, there was a doctor - and it was in the evening so it was his last job, he didn’t want to be hanging around - so I really had to go at it.

They give you stuff - DVDs, magazines – and they put on a film with some woman screaming her tripe out, having it away. They’d said: “Sorry, it’ll be Japanese.” I didn’t know what they meant. I don’t want a story. But over there, rude films are pixelated so it’s hard to see… anyway, yeah.

BH: You do have a reputation for being miserable - and it’s called the Moaning of Life – but you do get into the spirit.

KP: I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t really want to and it is interesting. I’ll just give an honest opinion. Episode two on happiness, there’s loads of stuff in there where I’m smiling.

Most people are used to seeing extremes. Everyone’s either over the moon or they’re crying because they’re so happy. Suddenly you’ve got someone on the telly being normal, and they go “He’s fucking miserable.” But I’m not. I am normal.

BH: Out of all of the series was there a thing you’d do again?

KP: Err… No. But it’s all good stuff that will stay with me. As much as I didn’t like the Indian wedding, it’s good to say you’ve been to one.

ACTING IN DEREK

Broadcast: Will you do any more acting?

KP: No. I’m doing a little bit in the new Derek, but not as much. I had a go at it because I’ve always given stuff a go. I’ve never had a plan in life so when stuff comes up I go ‘I’ll try it’. But I think I’ve been spoilt with this. As much as I complain about being away from home, when I get home I look back on it and go ‘That was good’.

When I did the stuff in Derek, I was in some lock-up in Uxbridge. I was just sat in a caravan waiting to be called. Then you go out and do it and then you go away again. There was also that stupid wig.

So, it’s not for me. It’s not acting either is it. Some people say they thought I was quite good in it, but I think I got away with it. It wasn’t acting. I can put myself in a situations and get wound up by it. But if you’d said: “Do it in Irish,” that to me is a proper actor. If you can’t do that stuff then you’re not really acting - you’re just remembering shit.

BH: You don’t have to do a different accent to be an actor. Woody Allen’s been doing the same thing for 60 years.

KP: But he’s never done any travel programmes. If he did, maybe he’d say: “What have I been doing?”

PRODUCTION MOANS

Broadcast: What was the main difference between making The Moaning of Life and An Idiot Abroad?

KP: The hotels were nicer, but sometimes we were in the middle of nowhere so we were still staying in some horrible places.

In Bali, there was a shed on a beach and there was bedding on the bed but it had never been changed. I don’t mind sleeping in a shed but let’s keep it all shed-like rather than trying to make something normal by putting a sheet on it. It had never been changed, you could see the body outline They weren’t even filming. They might as well have because for me it’s almost like therapy. I get it out of my system by moaning, so they might as well have filmed it.

My phone bills were also less, because speaking to Ricky and Steve long-distance it mounted up.

Q: Given your interest in death have you put much thought into your own funeral?

I don’t want to ruin it but I kind of have. At the end of the programme, I’ve got it sorted. But I do think about it a lot, death, just at night when I’m nodding off it’s normally the thing that calms me down.

Some people count sheep but that doesn’t work for me. Another animal like an elephant or a rhino will come in. My brain keeps me awake, so I tend to think about death and that one day I won’t be here and that stops any problems I’ve got going on in my head and I think: “Don’t worry about it, you’re gonna be dead.”