karl pilkington
An Idiot Abroad 2: The Bucket List sees Karl travelling around the world for Sky1 once more, due to be broadcast in late 2011. Series 1 was a smash hit success; a comedy travelogue series exec produced by Ricky Gervais More…
An Idiot Abroad 2: The Bucket List sees Karl travelling around the world for Sky1 once more, due to be broadcast in late 2011. Series 1 was a smash hit success; a comedy travelogue series exec produced by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant that saw Karl embark on a journey to discover the Seven Wonders of the World. The series was Sky1’s highest rated show of 2010 and featured in the top 10 highest rated shows ever on Sky1. The accompanying DVD (distributed by 2Entertain) sold over 500,000 copies and book (published by Canongate) sold over 200,000 copies to date.
An Idiot Abroad series 1 was sold to the Discovery-owned Science Channel in the US (where it pulled in 4.3 million viewers which is three times the usual audience figures), Discovery Channel Canada and more than 30 other broadcasters around the world including Network Ten Australia and TV3 New Zealand.
The Ricky Gervais Show series 2 premiered on HBO in the US in Jan 2011, returning to E4 and Channel 4 in the UK from March 2011. US-based producer Media Rights Company (MRC) along with Wildbrain, the animation studio behind Yo Gabba Gabba, makes the show. Series 1 debuted on HBO in Feb 2010, followed by Channel 4 in April 2010 and was released on DVD.
The Ricky Gervais show started out life as a radio programme on London station XFM, which began in 2001 and aired weekly for months at a time during 2002, 2003 and 2004. 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 for over five years outselling, albums, TV and film.
Karl’s classic quote “I could eat a knob at night” has spawned dance records, merchandise and a thousand online discussions – one such discussion leading to the conclusion that Karl isn’t real but is in fact a comedy character invented by Ricky and Stephen. The real thing was first seen in all his glory in a twenty-minute interview, which appeared on Ricky Gervais’ live stand-up comedy DVD, Politics.
Karl is also the author of three cult humour books; Ricky Gervais presents The World of Karl Pilkington (Fourth Estate), Happyslapped by a Jellyfish (Dorling Kindersley) and Karlology (Dorling Kindersley).