I was thinking the same thing. It also reminded me of the movie “Multiplicity”, where the main character has himself cloned a few times so that his clones can help him manage his busy lifestyle. As one of the clones is being “born” he says something like, “So, did it work? How did the clone turn out?” And the doctor says, “No, you are the clone.” And the clone answers, “What?! Naw… Really??”, or something like that.
Hope it’s not too late to resurrect this, but I just finished listening to the “Best of Ricky Gervais, Series One” podcast and came to these conclusions:
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Ricky Gervais annoys the fuck out of me with his incessant cackling laughter. I almost couldn’t get through the damn podcast because of him. Too bad, as I actually enjoy him otherwise.
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I’m even more convinced that Karl is well aware of what he’s doing and playing up a character. I’m sorry, but to me, it seems so clear that I have to suspect everybody claiming he really is an idiot is just in on the joke–a la the Cecil Adams stuff on the board here. I don’t understand how people are pointing to the earlier material as being signs of him really being an idiot. It’s brilliant and funny, although it gets predictable. The monkey in space story, especially, was fantastic comedy, and I can’t see it being, in any way, the work of a moron.
Karl’s not that stupid I; most of the time I know exactly what he’s talking about. His points are a bit weird and he has a crazy approach. I think Ricky and Steven just give him shit for being weird and pretend that he means literally every word he says.
I don’t think “stupid” is the right word for Karl either. He’s just really off kilter. It’s really him, though. He’s not doing a character.
I guess it depends on what we call “a character.” Like I said, I know people like this in real life–I’m thinking of two in particular–who play this “fool” type character non-stop socially, with a similar type of “wise naivete” as Karl, but it’s obvious they’re not really idiots, because they can turn it off professionally when they need to (one’s a barrister, the other a journalist). I mean, it’s part of their real personality–it’s not like a performance piece or anything–but it is a social act. Can Karl turn it off? I don’t know–I suspect in his private life he’s not quite as off-kilter as in his radio persona.
I have a friend who is a semi-affected idiot in real life, but in a different way than Karl. He’s practically a living version of Fry from Futurama – but complete with the moments of brilliant clarity that make Fry so darn funny and likeable. No real concept of social graces, but he’s figured out a vague “play dumb” act that works for him.
I’ve known him for about ten years and am convinced it’s not really an affectation. He’s much, much smarter than he acts (he’s an exceptionally intelligent person) but “buffoon” simply IS his personality.
My assumption is that Karl Pilkington is somewhat like that – smarter than he seems, but cluelessness isn’t exactly an act.
I think its pretty real, because I don’t think Karl is stupid. He is just incredibly unrefined and uncultured. He doesn’t care about, and therefore doesn’t even really see, anything having to do with ‘The Big Picture’. IOW how things relate to the past or future, or how the motivation of people can be very different depending on where and when you lived.
The opening scene of him being shown a picture of the Giza Pyramid and him reacting by saying, “That’s rubbish isn’t it. If it were here the council would condemn it wouldn’t they” pretty much says it all.
There’s a nice 1/2 hour special called ‘Satisfied Fool’ hosted by Karl. It involves him getting his IQ tested by Mensa and then going on to interview various intelligent people to debate whether or not being clever made you happier.
Also, Germaine Greer bakes him a loaf of bread.
I don’t think that Ricky Gervais was involved in production of the special, but they do interview him briefly, and he has exactly the same opinion as you do.
See, I see that as completely part of his whole schtick/persona (and the most obvious, predictable part. Karl going to the Grand Canyon would probably be like “It’s just a big hole, innit?”-type riffing). Anyhow, I guess we’ll never really know, but examples like that just confirm to me that he’s having a bit of a laugh, especially the whole conversation on the Ricky Gervais show about everything that needs to be invented having been invented, or the bit about Karl and what superpowers he’d want and what he’d do with them.
I was asking the same question is the OP in this zombie thread, and I thought I would revive it instead of starting a new one.
I saw Ricky in the Daily Show a week or two back, and he claims that Karl actually believes that Anne Frank was hiding out in the loft of the house in Amsterdam because she didn’t didn’t want to pay rent.
I was on the “genuine idiot” side, but this kind of tipped me the other way. I think your average idiot would either never have heard of Anne Frank, or if he did would at least have heard something about “hiding from Nazis”. I mean, really – did he think Nazis were particularly brutal rent collectors? So now I’m on the “closet genius” side.
Unless of course Ricky made up the story in its entirety, which is also possible.
I’ve come to the conclusion that TV Karl is an exaggerated version of real Karl. He strikes me as a person with a quality I find in many people I meet. They say something- anything-- it could be something that they’ve given deep thought to or something right off the top of their heads, doesn’t matter-- and once they’ve said it, they have to defend it against any naysayers even if they realized what they said was stupid the minute they said it.
This coupled with the fact that Karl really doesn’t like change or noise or too many people or fun, or things that are different than what he’s used to. Because what he’s used to is the proper way and anything else is weird.
I also think his travels abroad have widened his perspective quite a bit, making him somewhat more tolerant of things that aren’t “proper”. He’d be even more tolerant if Ricky and Steve’s only objective weren’t to fuck with him as much as possible.
An Idiot Abroad Karl is also only half as stupid as Radio Show Karl. At least that’s my take on it.
If this is true, we’ve got a shitload of Karls here.
He wouldn’t bungee jump but he climbed up on the top wing of a bi-plane (while it was flying) and then stood up there while the plane looped and rolled. Real or just a character, I can’t help but laugh as he screams through the ride. I’m pretty sure the screams are real, though.
Not gonna argue with you on that.
Ok this is my first post in here. I think most of you guys are wrong. First thing that clearly gives away it’s 100% an act is how Karl references Suzanne his girlfriend, from everything he’s says it seems like either she’s also an idiot or she doesn’t actually exist (I’m betting the latter).
The second very obvious reason he’s 100% made up other than the fact that you said he started out as a producer (Who would hire an idiot to produce a show for two very intelligent people?), I think he might have been a writer/producer of the bits and then he basically wrote himself into the show because they thought it would be great to have an idiot who says intelligent thoughts but in a confusing manner. Because I think every one of Karls statements is like someone thinking of the weirdest response you can give and then he adds like idiot filler around it different Karl mannerisms to sell it.
If Karl were actually an idiot I think he wouldn’t come up with funny responses 99% of the time, the show def revolves around the fact that they probably know already what Karls going to say and have bits worked out around his statements. I wouldn’t be surprised if the shows script is just the questions and Karls responses and the rest is improv.
Karl isn’t stupid, he’s stubborn and ignorant. Very different things. You can be a competent radio producer and also not believe in evolution. The two are not mutually exclusive.
At some point I reached a conclusion similar to this as well. Karl manages to be thoughtful, obtuse, and funny, all at the same time…it’s just too consistent.
When this show first aired two years ago (when this thread started) I was watching it at a really good friend of mine’s house. I was laughing hysterically but my friend just sat there stone-faced, not getting any of it at all. I was suddenly struck by the reality that the reason for this was because my friend is a Karl Pilkington! Completely uncultured, very hand-to-mouth, absolutely no artistic sense at all. Fortunately this also meant that he didn’t get (or care) that this is how I see him most of the time! 
Interesting that the consistency adds to your doubt and not your belief. To me, the consistency says to me that it’s in his nature. There is no brilliant comedic mind, or secondary sense of personality behind the veil. It’s Karl through and through.
I appreciate a healthy dose of skepticism, ThoughtWizard, but in this case, I’m sorry to say you’re barking up the wrong tree.