So I’ve just discovered the side-splittingly funny world that is the Ricky Gervais Show (podcast, in this case). Yeah, I know that I’m late to the party.
What’s the deal with Karl Pilkington? I know Ricky insists that he’s not an invented character and he’s real, but…I mean…he can’t be…can he?
Any thoughts?
He’s definitely real, as he’s had credits on Ricky Gervais radio shows from years before he became well known, and was also featured on the DVD extras of Ricky’s standup shows, at one point being wrapped up in duct tape and abandoned.
(BTW, if you haven’t seen them yet, his performances some of the best standup I’ve ever seen - particularly Animals - and he isn’t even a standup comedian. Bastard.)
I’d bet that the Karl you hear on the podcasts is a gross exaggeration of the real Karl - have you got to the diary he keeps yet? It’s way too witty for him to be that stupid. Unless it’s entirely made up by Mr Gervais, but that would make him even more of a genius than he already clearly is.
Heh, yeah I know he’s a real guy and that he was the producer from their earlier shows where he didn’t play such a central role. I meant more whether is schtick could possibly be real. I agree with you that it’s probably an exaggeration since it’s too witty and too consistently inane. Ricky’s a genius either way!
I just finished episode 9, so I’m in the diary-goodness-land. I’ll probably end up shelling out the $2 a pop for the current season as well. Thanks for the tip on the standup.
I’ll also add that I rarely laugh out loud at things when I’m alone, even if it’s something I think is riotously funny. But when Ricky (and Stephen) just lose it with laughter, it’s impossible not to laugh along with them! Infectous.
At first I wondered if Karl was genuinely that stupid, but as the series went on, I started to have my doubts. Found the original thread about them.
BTW, if you’re in the US, you may have problems locating Gervais standup. I’ve been trying to get the Region 1 DVD of Animals for my wife’s cousin, who absolutely loved it when she was visiting from Boston, but to no avail so far.
Ricky’s laugh is the most amazingly infectious. I’d imagine working with him would be a pain in the arse.
I’ve found recordings of many of their old radio shows - over 100 hours, in fact - and I’ve been listening to them over the last few weeks at work. Many of them are available at the radio station’s website, xfm.co.uk, though it takes some digging around to find them. Anyway, my impression after listening to many many hours of their drivel is that Karl is real. There are times when he’s making a deliberate joke - especially when he makes fun of the way Steven looks - and I’m quite sure he doesn’t really believe his monkey news is real, but I think overall, he’s being genuine. I don’t think he’s a character, or made up, or anything like that. There have just been too many times when he mentions something in passing that takes the other two completely off guard. I’ve listened enough to be able to tell when they’re feigning surprise and when they’re not.
If you can, find the episode where Karl casually mentions the house in his neighboorhood where they kept a horse in the living room. I ended up standing in the middle of the lab, hunched over, giggling madly while trying to keep quiet, for about five minutes while listening to that exchange.
From wikipedia:
Merchant also stated that he would be ashamed if the radio show was scripted. Ricky agreed, stating, “We spend 3 months on a half-hour script, how could we script a two-hour show every week?” Merchant added: “If we came up with a character as good as Karl, we would never use him on a poxy little radio station like this one (Xfm London)”.
Makes sense in a weird sort of way.
They make a LOT of comments about how little effort they put into that show and I, for one, believe them. It’s clear that Steven and Ricky just do it for their own entertainment. I have a hard time believing they’d put in the work it would take to keep this elaborate, very subtle joke going for 4+ years.
Some of Karl’s little gems have been gathered up onto a web page here. And of course, there’s a ton of stuff now selling at CaféPress.
jjimm, Amazon.com says that Animals will be released in the US on March 28, but you can pre-order it now if you like.
Holy frijoles, I’ve been gobbling up anything Ricky has touched!
I’ve downloaded the complete XFM shows and am slowly chugging through them on my commute.
I’ve watched Animals (very funny! especially like the bible segment)
I’ve watched the first series of Extras.
I’ve purchased the 3 episodes of the Season 2 podcast (still very funny. Something tells me they’ll never run out of material with Karl).
I love how whenever Karl comes out with an offensive statement about one group or another, he always prefaces it by saying “I’m no havin’ a go, but…”
As if somehow that makes it alright. 
Another question: Is Ricky Gervais hugely popular in the UK? As in, would most ordinary people know who he is? How about Merchant and Pilkington at this point?
Here in the states, it’s probably pretty safe to say that no one’s even heard of him (I certainly hadn’t only a couple weeks ago), though he seems well known enough and respected in showbiz/comedy circles (Larry David, The Simpsons, Christopher Guest, etc.).
Your average person around here would be like “Ricky who?”. The best bet would be “That guy from the British Office?”, but even that’s a long shot. I don’t even know how I’d begin to describe Karl.
Ricky is absolutely massive over here. He’s (rightly) hailed as a genius wherever he goes. Stephen is definitely well known - “he’s that bloke who co-wrote the Office, isn’t he?” Karl is a new phenomenon.
I caved, BTW, and bought the new podcasts. So glad I did: they’re funnier than the first ones.
Cool. That’s somehow comforting to know that he’s hailed as the genius he is.
I hope the new pay-per-episode podcast does well (people certainly seem to be bitching about the price a lot, at least on the iTunes reviews) if only to support the now jobless Karl.
People make the argument that $2 is too much for a 30 minute audio track when you can get a whole TV show episode for the same price. It’s a point, but a) it’s brilliant (if I might use the phrase) and b) I’m sure Audible takes half that (and probably has to pay out to Apple) since they’re the only way (at the moment) to get a pay per download on iTunes (as an audiobook).
I could eat a knob at night.
So I’m listening to the new edition of the podcast that just came out (Season 2, Episode 5). Before starting in with Karl’s diary (Chimpanzee that, he’s gone and written it down again…), Steve prefaces it by saying that they don’t have a hand in it and haven’t even seen what’s written till they read it “on-air”.
A bit of an odd thing to say.
Listening to hours and hours of the “drivel”, I’ve come to fully accept that Karl really is probably just a fairly ignorant bloke who might just ham it up a little bit since he realizes he’s got a good thing going here. But not that he’s a totally fabricated character. However, I’ve always thought that the diary was the most suspect thing since it seems the most witty and…crafted.
Seems strange they’d just outright lie if Steve and Ricky do actually prepare the diary stuff. Maybe Pilkington is the real comedy genius here?
Sorry to keep resurrecting this thread, but I’m just enthralled.
That’s what Ricky has been saying for a while. I’ve read interviews with him several times where he’s said it.
Very true, but I always assumed he meant an unintentional comedy genius. Ricky’s always saying how facinated he is with what goes on in that “perfectly spherical little head”.
Hard to swallow Karl’s complete and total lack of understanding of even a single common saying (flogging a dead horse, people who live in glass houses…).
Of course, if the whole thing turns out to be a complete and utter sham, it doesn’t make it any less enjoyable to me!
Bump.
Jayrot, they’re now doing (very short) free video podcasts]([url=http://podcast.rickygervais.com/podcast.xml). Of the three so far, one is genuine, one is a plug for the Pilkington book (but still funny), and one is an animation of an older “Monkey News”.
Ah bugger, screwed up the link.
Thanks for the link, jjimm! The monkey news animation is pretty funny as are the other two. Of course I wish they were a full 30min (or more!). I’m getting sad at the moment as I’m down to the last of the old XFM broadcasts (I’m jealous of the Homer Simpson drawing) and just this morning I listened to episode 6, the last of the current podcast series/season. They did mention that they hope to return (in perhaps in vod-cast form) at some point - didn’t realize they were out already.
Despite the whinging (did I get that word right?) about the pay-per-download podcast, presumably they made a fair amount of money from these past 6. Hopefully that’ll convince them to keep at it as long as possible. I honestly just can’t get enough.
I’ve considered getting one of the monkey news t-shirts from Cafepress if only because none of my fellow 'mericans would know what it was about.