An Idiot Abroad

[knapplc]

Anyone watch this? The concept is that Ricky Gervais and some other guy met this buffoon, and for a lark they send him around the world to experience other cultures and world wonders, and they record his misery.

I watched the intro/pilot and the first episode, where Karl goes to China to see the Great Wall. It had a few laugh-out-loud moments, which is more than I can say for most TV shows. If Karl is being Karl, he's a very sheltered, shallow person. His take on China and the Chinese is xenophobic, but not intentionally insultingly so. Just watch some clips:

http://science.discovery.com/tv/an-idiot-abroad/

[The Artful Dodger]

Karl happens to be a Man United fan, BTW. Some of what he says seems legit, seeing how this was his comedy bit on the radio for some time now.

My English cousin raves about An Idiot Abroad and I didn't know it was on American TV so soon. I'll check this out now.

[knapplc]

Karl happens to be a Man United fan, BTW. Some of what he says seems legit, seeing how this was his comedy bit on the radio for some time now.

My English cousin raves about An Idiot Abroad and I didn't know it was on American TV so soon. I'll check this out now.

Uh-oh. I was afraid of this. Is Karl a comedian? Is this all a put-on?

[The Artful Dodger]

Karl happens to be a Man United fan, BTW. Some of what he says seems legit, seeing how this was his comedy bit on the radio for some time now.

My English cousin raves about An Idiot Abroad and I didn't know it was on American TV so soon. I'll check this out now.

Uh-oh. I was afraid of this. Is Karl a comedian? Is this all a put-on?

Karl is a comedian but he's genuinely dimwitted. There was a stunt in which he did an IQ test and scored very low, but it was likely a deliberate stunt to enhance that persona of being an idiot. He's definitely aware of what will make his audience laugh, but that doesn't mean he's not a true-to-life innocently shallow numpty.

Just been talking with my cousin now and she said the one on Jordan is the best episode.

[teddy ballgame]

I was introduced to the world of Karl Pilkington last year through The Ricky Gervais show, an animated podcast that HBO aired. After I found that I went back and listened to all of their old radio shows and podcasts. They're amazing, and I highly recommend them if you liked An Idiot Abroad. I followed the show as it aired in the UK last fall, but I'm glad they're airing it over here now

As for whether its real, you can tell from listening to the earliest radio shows that he really is that stupid. Over time he has kind of figured out what will get a reaction, but most of what he says is genuine.

[thedude]

Karl was the producer of the Ricky Gervais Show on London radio some years ago. The podcasts of that show are (or were) on HBO. I caught one episode a while back: basically most of the show is Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant (the co-creator of the Office) making fun of Karl, the producer of the show, for being stupid.