Overview (3)

Mini Bio (1)

Karl Pilkington is best known as the star of Sky 1 travel documentary series An Idiot Abroad and The Moaning of Life. Karl is also a Sunday Times best-selling author, having written seven books. Hist first scripted comedy series Sick of It debuted on Sky 1 in 2018 and series 2 will launch in 2019.



The Moaning of Life saw Karl set off around the world to experience how other cultures faced up to life's big issues as he made plans for his future, and it continues to be heralded as one of Sky1's most popular ever programs and has now been seen by millions of viewers around the world.



An Idiot Abroad saw Karl being sent around the world by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant on a journey of self discovery. The An Idiot Abroad brand has grown from strength to strength. The second series was nominated for a BAFTA® Television Award, adding to previous nods from the British Comedy, National Television, Royal Television Society, Broadcast and Broadcasting Press Guild awards.



An Idiot Abroad have been sold to over 200 territories worldwide. The accompanying DVDs (distributed by BBC Worldwide) have sold over a million copies and books (published by Canongate) have sold over a million copies in the UK alone, with the first book hitting the Top Ten in hardback in the autumn of 2010 and the No.1 spot on the paperback list in the autumn of 2011. The books have spent 50 weeks in total in the Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller lists. Most recently the accompanying The Moaning of Life book also spent 10 weeks in the Sunday Times best seller list in both hardback and paperback.



The Ricky Gervais Show started out life as a radio program on London station XFM, which began in 2001. Karl was an off-air producer for Ricky and Stephen but he didn't stay off-air for long and his antics and opinions along with his fascination for odd stuff, distrust of animals and dislike of crowds meant that he became a much more vocal part of the show and became the cult hero of the XFM broadcasts.



A series of record-breaking podcasts with Ricky and Stephen followed, making Karl a household name around the world. The podcasts went to number 1 in 14 countries including America and became the most downloaded in history according to Guinness World Records, having gained an average of 261,670 downloads per episode during its first month. The podcasts have remained at the top of the charts, having been downloaded over 300 million times. The podcasts were eventually animated for both HBO in the US and E4 in the UK.



Karl is the author of seven books: The World of Karl Pilkington; Happyslapped by a Jellyfish; Karlology; An Idiot Abroad; The Further Adventures of An Idiot Abroad, The Moaning of Life and More Moaning.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Curtis Brown Group

Trade Mark (4)

Round head that resembles an orange



Deadpan delivery



Bizarre observations



Rarely smiles



Trivia (3)

Used to be radio producer for XFM London.



He founded Round Ed Productions Limited.



Personal Quotes (92)

It would be spiteful to put a Jellyfish in a trifle.





[on Gremlins - Kleine Monster (1984)] What are those things in Gremlins called?

A dog has got human eyes



They say it all started out with a big bang. But, what I wonder is, was it a big bang or did it just seem big because there wasn't anything else drown it out at the time?



"People who live in a glass house have to answer the door." ~ Karl invents his own phrase based on 'Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.'



Stay green, stay in the woods, and stay safe. ~ Karl's advice to chameleons



A slug is always on its own. It's a lonely insect.



I scored once, and that's only because I was being chased by a bee. ~ Karl's most vivid memory of playing football at school



Why didn't evolution give them genes to make them good at carpentry then, so they could build a ladder instead of growing long necks? ~ on the the evolution of the giraffe





[on whether his personality is real] People ask that about An Idiot Abroad (2010). They go, "Are you really like that?" And I am. But they've got to remember is that it's an edited program, innit? So I'm away for nine days, and probably... I don't know how many hours of film that is, but at the end of the day, it's edited down to, like, 45 minutes or something. So there's times when I watch it back and I think, "God..." But then I think about it, and I go, "Well, that's 45 minutes out of hours and hours." I'm pretty sure if I walked around with you and filmed you, and then somebody edited it down, I could either make you look like Stephen Hawking or make you look like... me.



[on whether his personality is real] Yeah, it's me. But I think what doesn't help is the title that Ricky came up with. You know, the fact that it's called An Idiot Abroad (2010) is annoying, 'cause people on the street, they'll sort of go, "Oh, it's the idiot!" Which isn't great. That isn't a dream come true. I never wanted that. But it's just because that's the name of the group. Like, if people see Ricky...or, like, before he was more known, it'd be like if they said, "Oh, look, it's the bloke from The Office (2001)." They're just going with the name that they know. It's just annoying that I have to be in a program with "idiot" in the title, so they go, "There's the idiot!"

People think that I'm an actor called Graham. I wish I was.



[on dopplegangers] How would I know which one I was?



If you can't look a knob in the face there's something wrong.



The Chinese, they don't age well. You never see a sort of 35 year old one. Well, they're good looking when they're young but they age overnight. They're like a pear.



The reason I did the book about holidays is that you're a different person on holiday. You're sleeping somewhere unfamiliar, knocking about with people you've never met and for 10 days you're someone else. You're out of your comfortable zone.



I found that being with happy positive people annoys me.



People who live in a glass house have to answer the door.



I'd rather live in a cave with a view of a palace than live in a palace with a view of a cave.



The other day I was thinking - because I get a lot of headaches - I was wondering whether the head should be where it is. Because, at the end of the day, it's probably the heaviest part of your body, right? And yet it's at the top as opposed to, I don't, dangling at the bottom somewhere.



I've never understood the 'things to do before you die' idea. If I was ill, I'd be in no mood to have a swim with a dolphin.



When I go on holiday and people ask me what I do, I tell them I do some internet stuff and I've done a couple of books and I hope they just leave it at that.



But I'm not an idiot. At the end of the day, I've learned a lot.



That's the problem with having a bald head. It exaggerates the shape.



I've done some luxury flying, which is brilliant. It has only happened once or twice, but it was nice because flying is the worst part of the holiday. But then again, if the plane crashes, you're still dead. For that much money I'd want a little capsule that whizzed me off to safety if it was going to crash.



And we've got a toaster and everything. So there is no reason for the wedding.



I'd say the best is when I was in Africa, I saw a hippo in a house. Someone had a pet hippo. And they're meant to be one of the most dangerous animals on the planet, and they had one that was sort of just wandering in and out of their house, just sort of roaming about.



I just sort of go along and say what I think -and that's all you can do in life, really.



Being honest with you, it's not the 'great' wall of China. It's an all right wall. It's the 'All Right Wall of China.'



If you sit in a bath of pineapple chunks, it can kill you. That's well documented.



It's like there's some unwritten rule that if you're mates, you can say what you want to each other, and you don't really get that annoyed about it.



I don't know what the future is, but you just do it whilst it's there, don't you?



I'm not that lazy, but I don't need that much money. I lead a fairly simple life.



Yesterday, I did some painting then went out to buy an onion and came home and watched 'University Challenge.' The onion was probably the highlight.



Me mum used to always have the radio on - even now she has it on in every room. Me girlfriend sort of blames that reason for me not doing that well at school - constant noise, really.



I say have the night and give people the awards, but why do people want to watch people win awards? What are they getting out of it? I don't quite get it. Because they have awards all the time; there's awards for butchers, the best meat served, but they don't televise it. I don't know why they do it for films or TV programs.



People eat duck and you think, well, we've got loads of chickens, leave the ducks alone!



Parrots have gone a bit quiet since pirates have gone.



It's not a joke: I really do like being at home.



Getting old is better than being young. You can do what you want to do.



It's not easy keeping a diary. You have to be pretty committed.



I sometimes wonder how we're short of cod. There's gonna be a load deep down that are hiding. But it's a good reason to put the price up, and it means a load of people will have haddock. They should tell people they're running out of all sorts. Make 'em panic a bit.



People always tell me I'm going to regret not having kids. But what if I have one and then I regret having it? Has anyone thought of that option?



With evolution, things are always changing, so I sort of think: Should we all be growing three heads?



I think it's a problem when something's a dream because it'll never live up to your expectations. It's better to go somewhere thinking it'll be horrible, and then be pleasantly surprised.



I had a bad experience doing public speaking at school. I had to talk about a pen for five minutes and it was really hard work. I couldn't wait to get off the stage.



We'll all die out eventually. Humans will be gone. And all I'm saying is, when people worry about polar bears disappearing or whatever, it's like, 'Well that's life, things will come and go, we'll find new species.'



You know, when you're a producer, you're a bit of a lackey. You're just making cups of tea and making sure they've got newspaper, stuff like that.



Who'd have thought the Frisbee would have caught on?



You can only live to be so old, then you gotta let go.



I came face-to-face with a gorilla which was quite good, but it was a 10-hour trek in bad weather, up hills, covered in mud, with mosquitoes everywhere and when we got there the gorilla's just sat there doing nowt.



I really can't believe what a state the Pyramids are in. I thought they had flat rendered sides, but when you get up close, you see how they are just giant boulders balanced on top of each other, like a massive game of Jenga that has got out of hand.



People say if bees die out, the world would end, apparently. Now, I don't know if that's true, if that's some bee enthusiast who managed to write a good document, and people believe this.



I don't watch much telly, the telly hardly goes on, but the things I do watch are sort of nature programs, and something about the oceans and the amount of weird fish that's in there.



I've never thought about it before, but I suppose bad people might need someone to pray to, too.



I don't really go out at night in terms of noisy, busy places; I prefer more of a quiet corner somewhere.



I'm not a proper traveler. I don't like to be challenged or have too much of a change and prefer a week away just to relax.



If you're doing the same job every day, there's room for error.



For me, a good holiday is about value for money rather than things to see.



Everyone is living for everyone else now. They're doing stuff so they can tell other people about it. I don't get all that social media stuff, I've always got other things I want to do - odd jobs around the house. No one wants to hear about that.



I don't want to go about offending people; that's not my plan.



I don't think I'd be a very good parent. I'd be too honest.



I don't know what I'm meant to do. I'm not important, am I? I'm not doing anything that makes a difference.



Comedy's really subjective, you know; that's why it's so hard.



I've got loads of nieces and nephews.



I've learnt that, even though I've travelled about, I haven't changed that much.



I was impressed by the Taj Mahal. A good bit of work, well looked after, worth paying money to see.



I drive a car, like an adult. Not brilliantly. I'm not great.



At the end of the day, teachers aren't going to mess about trying to make me into an Einstein, 'cause it was never gonna happen. We can't all be brainy, can we? That's just the way the world is.



I went whale-watching, and I was really looking forward to that, but when you see it on TV and you see other programs do it, you're seeing close-ups of these massive creatures, and the music that's added gives you a certain feeling. But in reality, you're stuck on a boat that's bobbing up and down, you feel sick, the whale isn't there on demand.



I am into nature and seeing whales. I went whale-watching, and I was really looking forward to that, but when you see it on TV and you see other programs do it, you're seeing close-ups of these massive creatures, and the music that's added gives you a certain feeling.



When you've been on a programme called 'An Idiot Abroad' job offers aren't exactly flying in.



To be honest, marriage doesn't scare me and that, it's just once you've been together for so long, if you haven't got any kids it's just a big expensive day out for everyone else to enjoy, isn't it?



I think it's mental to pay for water. Where is that water coming from? Are they in the hills puttin' it into bottles when years ago it used to roll down and go into the lakes?



I love nature - it's probably my most favorite thing. I don't watch much telly, the telly hardly goes on, but the things I do watch are sort of nature programs, and something about the oceans and the amount of weird fish that's in there.



I don't know any Londoners 'cos I'm from Manchester.



The poorer people and criminals of Mexico who are not very religious but not quite atheists, either, worship Saint Death.



I mean, I don't really go out at night in terms of noisy, busy places; I prefer more of a quiet corner somewhere.



All fame is is having people you don't know coming up to you and saying, 'Hello.' I'm always polite and people are always nice, but it's weird.



Making the 'An Idiot Abroad' series, I was really dreading going to India; I thought I'd hate it. It was a nightmare, and I was really ill - just like everyone says.



I've never worried about life's big questions.



I've never won many awards, I didn't get certificates for swimming or anything.



I don't know what 'famous' is, really.



I'm not invited to any exciting parties and my life hasn't really changed.



If you'd have told me five years ago that I'd have done all this - two books, some television and everything - I'd panic, I'd be scared.



If you go away with, you know, a girlfriend, wife, whatever, you have an argument on holiday because you're not used to spending that much time with people.



With acting, I didn't get much from it.



We should all love animals.



To me, a cat is an easy pet, they don't need any spoiling or looking after.



Sometimes you can know too much. A lot of brainy people like Stephen Fry are quite depressive.



Stay Green. Stay in the Woods. Stay Safe.



I mean: I don't know what I mean.

