Karl Pilkington

Karl Pilkington
Pilkington in 2008
Born	(1972-09-23)23 September 1972 Sale,Cheshire,England
Occupations	Presenter comedian actor voice-artist producer author
Years active	1998–present
Partner	Suzanne
Website	karlpilkington.co.uk

Karl Pilkington(born 23 September 1972) is an English presenter, actor, voice-artist, producer and author.

After working withRicky GervaisandStephen Merchantas producer on theirXfmradio show, Pilkington became a co-host ofThe Ricky Gervais Show.He presented theSkytravel comedy seriesAn Idiot Abroadand theSky Onetravel comedy seriesThe Moaning of Life.He made his acting debut in Gervais's comedy-drama seriesDerekand co-founded the television production company RiSK Productions alongside Gervais and Merchant. He also co-created, co-wrote, and starred in the comedy seriesSick of It.

Early life

Pilkington was born on 23 September 1972inSale,Cheshire(modern dayGreater Manchester).He grew up in the Racecourse Estate in Sale, and has an elder sister and brother. He has discussed having a close relationship with his parents, and has shared stories about his mother and father holding multiple jobs. However, he was never close to his siblings, which he attributed to being 10 years younger than them; he once said that it had been "years" since he had last talked to them.He attendedAshton-on-Mersey Schoolin Sale.He said that he never liked school and struggled with the system, at some point losing all interest in it. He has said he attended school only to sell items to his schoolmates, usually video games that he had purchased and made copies of. He said, "I wasn't going to school to learn, I was going to earn." At the age of 15, he dropped out of school to work as a cassette and disk printer through aYouth Training Schemeprogramme.

Career

Early work

Pilkington moved toLondonto work as a producer atXfm,where he was later promoted to head of production.While there, he unintentionally causedGail Porterto leave the station in tears after only one show; he criticised her performance, which Pilkington defended as an attempt to encourage improvement.

After several years, he began work onThe Ricky Gervais Show.Initially, Pilkington was solely the programme's producer and rarely spoke on-air, but as Gervais and Merchant began to frequently invite him to makecameo appearances,Pilkington'seccentricpersonality and unconventional views came to prominence and his popularity increased. He was eventually included as a main presenter on the broadcasts, with large amounts of airtime devoted to his controversial opinions on various subjects: often due to his misunderstanding of the stories.

Pilkington created many features for the broadcasts, including Monkey News, Rockbusters, Educating Ricky and many others.Rockbusters garnered the most attention, with regular emails being sent to the station from listeners in the hopes to win prizes. These prizes were often mundane and low quality and were often referred to as things Pilkington "picked up from around the office". In December 2005, Pilkington stood in on twoBBC Radio 6 Musicshows forNemone,co-presenting withRussell Brand.

Celebrity

Pilkington's presence onThe Ricky Gervais Showpodcasts significantly increased his fame. He has often been mentioned in interviews given by Gervais and is often the victim of Gervais'spranksand insults directed towards the spherical appearance of his bald head, which has often been compared to anorange.During the podcast, Pilkington would often discuss his bizarre upbringing and worldview, alongside absurd news stories.

In describing a challenge fromI'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!in which contestantsconsumed a kangaroo penis,Pilkington claimed the challenge was more difficult than presented due to contestants' consuming of the kangaroo penis on an empty stomach. Pilkington reasoned that he could perform the challenge should it occur later in the day: surmising "I could eat a knob at night". In response to Pilkington's claim, Gervais encouraged his listeners to sample the humorous sound bite and remix it into dance music. The phrase spawned several dance music mixes, T-shirts and other merchandise. Many of Pilkington's quotes have since gained publicity, particularly on the Internet.Reutersdescribed Pilkington as a "phenomenon" who had made "Internet history".

On 23 November 2010, while appearing live onRichard Bacon'sRadio 5 Liveafternoon show, Gervais surprised Pilkington with an on-air phone call. This led to a conversation in which Pilkington, who claimed to have been interrupted whilegroutinghis kitchen, claimed that he had not yet been paid for his work onAn Idiot Abroadand concluded the interview with an improvised link into the hourly news.

Pilkington has worked independently of Gervais and Merchant on several projects. He appeared as a guest on the showsFlipside TVandThe Culture Show,and appeared in several short films as part of theChannel 4project3 Minute Wonders.

Merchant and Gervais have repeatedly denied claims that Pilkington's persona is their creation. In an on-air response to similar claims made by Chris Campling during a broadcast on Xfm, Merchant stated that he would be "ashamed" if the radio show had been scripted, adding that "I would not have squandered a character that good on this poxy radio station."Gervais concurred, pointing out that writing a single series's worth of six half-hour episodes of shows such asThe OfficeandExtrasconsumed as long as a full year of their time. An interviewer forThe Daily Telegraphconcluded that Pilkington's behaviour is genuine.

In 2019, a species of insect from theMutillidaefamily was namedTraumatomutilla pilkingtoniafter him.

Television and DVD

Pilkington appeared in an interview titledMeet Karl Pilkingtonon Gervais's live standup comedy DVDPolitics(2004). The DVD of Gervais's filmThe Invention of Lying(2009) contains a special feature also calledMeet Karl Pilkingtonthat documents his participation in the film as a non-speakingcavemanin another special feature,The Dawn of Lying.He was given a small role in the final episode ofExtras.

In September 2010, Pilkington starred inAn Idiot Abroad,a light-heartedSky Onetravel documentary series produced by Gervais and Merchant in which he visits theNew 7 Wonders of the Worldwhile participating in various activities along the way.He wrote a book to accompany the series.

The second series, subtitledThe Bucket List,debuted on 23 September 2011 on Sky One and features Pilkington partaking in ultimate experiences from a list selected for him.In June 2011, he won the Best Presenter award forAn Idiot Abroadat the Factual Entertainment Awards.The third series of the show,An Idiot Abroad: The Short Way Round,premiered in November 2012 and showed Pilkington andWarwick Davistravelling theMarco Polo route.

Pilkington made his acting debut on 12 April 2012 in theChannel 4comedy-dramaDerek,portrayingcaretakerand bus driver Dougie. He left the show after the first episode of the second series. From 2013 to 2015, Pilkington starred in a two-series Sky One documentary calledThe Moaning of Life.From 2018 to 2020, he co-wrote and starred in a Sky One scripted sitcom calledSick of It.

In 2022, Pilkington starred in theITVdramaThe Thief, His Wife and the Canoeas DC Phil Bayley. Pilkington has also performedvoice-overwork for such clients as Sky TV, One Stop Office Shop,Freeview,Vodafone,HMV,PlayStation Portable,WHSmith,Wickes,Unileverand SMARTY.

In 2023, Pilkington appeared in the comedy-drama seriesRain Dogs.

In 2024, Pilkington guest starred in theBBCdetectivedramedyLudwig.

Charity work

In 2014, Pilkington designed and signed his own card for theThomas Coram Foundation for Childrencharity. The campaign was launched by crafting company Stampin' Up! UK; his card, along with those designed and signed by other celebrities, was auctioned oneBayin May 2014.

Personal life

Pilkington resides inSandbanks,Poole,Dorset.He is in a long-term cohabiting relationship with his partner, Suzanne, whom he frequently mentions in his work.

Pilkington supportedManchester Cityas a child, but has supportedManchester Unitedsince the 1990s.In January 2020, he revealed onSunday Brunchthat he had been attempting to eat fewer animal products and described himself as aflexitarian.

Regarding his experience of other religions during the production ofAn Idiot Abroad,Pilkington noted that "Religion was never a big part of my life. I wasn't christened."Nevertheless, he commented that "I've always thought of myself as sort of aBuddhist."

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	The Invention of Lying	Caveman	Cameo, cut from final release.
2010	Cemetery Junction	Extra
2012	Chingari	English Reporter

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Flipside TV	Himself
2006	3 Minute Wonder		Segment: "Some Thoughts by Karl Pilkington"
2007	Comedy Lab		Episode: "Karl Pilkington: Satisfied Fool"
	Extras	Autograph Hunter	1 episode; "2007 Christmas Special"
	Monkey Lovers (Documentary)	Himself	Voice
2010–2012	The Ricky Gervais Show
	An Idiot Abroad		21 episodes
2012–2014	Derek	Dougie	8 episodes
2013–2015	The Moaning of Life	Himself	11 episodes
2018–2020	Sick of It	Karl	12 episodes; also creator and writer
2022	The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe	DC Phil Bayley	2 episodes
2023	Rain Dogs	Simon	2 episodes; series 1 episodes 7 & 8
2024	Ludwig	DI Matt Neville

Radio

Year	Title	Role
2001–2011	The Ricky Gervais Show	Himself

Bibliography

Year	Title	ISBN
2006	The World of Karl Pilkington	978-0007240272
2007	Happyslapped by a Jellyfish	978-1405328470
2008	Karlology: What I've Learnt So Far	978-1405333351
2010	An Idiot Abroad: The Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington	978-1847679260
2012	The Further Adventures of An Idiot Abroad	978-0857867490
2013	The Moaning of Life: The Worldly Wisdom of Karl Pilkington	978-1782111511
2016	More Moaning: The Enlightened One Returns	978-1782117315

External links

• Karl PilkingtonatIMDb
• Karl Pilkington's Profile on Xfm.co.uk(Archived fromthe originalon 5 August 2012)