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Karl Pilkington

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Karl Pilkington
Born(1972-09-23)September 23, 1972
Manchester, England
Occupation(s)Head of Production at Xfm London
Podcast Presenter
Paper Boy
SpouseSuzanne Whiston

Karl Pilkington (born on September 23, 1972) is a Sony Award-winning radio producer and podcaster best known for producing and co-presenting The Ricky Gervais Show, on London radio station XFM from 2001 to 2005 and later in the form of podcasts. In October 2006, Pilkington's first book The World of Karl Pilkington was published, featuring original ideas and drawings by Pilkington, based upon the subject matter discussed in the podcasts.[1] His second book, Happyslapped by a Jellyfish, was published in October 2007, and he was the subject of the Comedy Lab episode "Karl Pilkington - Satisfied Fool", which aired in October 2007.[2]

Biography

Karl Pilkington grew up in Manchester, England.[3] Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant later contacted his school and discovered that Karl attained only one GCSE, History, for which he achieved an "E" grade.[4] Pilkington was apparently surprised by this as he remembered sitting in on several others - such as his Art GCSE where he recalled making a "little clay man with his arms in a car" - however, he appeared not to know that registration is required for exams, and that you cannot just "turn up on the day", which may explain the lack of other grades.[5]

Despite his absence, Pilkington has been remembered by a schoolmate on Friends Reunited as bringing to school his pet magpie "Maggie" to show his friends, before it unexpectedly flew away; a story confirmed by Pilkington during the show in which this story was revealed. According to Pilkington, his first name was chosen as a result of his mother dreaming she had pneumonia and being assured of her survival by a doctor whose name-tag read "Karl".[6] Pilkington has been through a number of jobs, his favourite being his paper round, which he had at age 14.[7] It is also often mused by Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant, that Pilkington, "Has a head like a fucking orange."

Persona

On April 24, 2006, The New York Times ran an article about Ricky Gervais and the podcast which described Pilkington's behaviour as a well executed "deadpan comedian" routine which "crosses Ali G and Steven Wright".[8]

Merchant and Gervais themselves have repeatedly denied claims that Pilkington was a creation of theirs. 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 were scripted, adding that "If we came up with a character as good as Karl, we would never squander him on a poxy little radio station like this one".[9] Gervais concurred, pointing out that writing half-hour episodes of shows such as The Office and Extras took the two up to a year, thus making the writing of weekly two-hour radio shows extremely unlikely.

Celebrity

Graffiti in Augusta, Georgia, of Karl Pilkington and his famous soundbite "I could eat a knob at night".

As a result of the success of The Ricky Gervais Show podcasts in particular, Pilkington became a cult celebrity. Pilkington was often mentioned in interviews that Gervais gave, and was often on the receiving end of Gervais's practical jokes. When asked who was the funniest person he knew, Gervais said that Karl Pilkington was "the funniest man alive in Britain today." In addition, Pilkington appears in a twenty minute interview on Ricky Gervais's live stand-up comedy DVD, Politics. He was also invited to be an extra on the final episode of Gervais' and Merchant's Extras.

Pilkington reached new heights of fame by commenting that he could "Eat a knob at night" during a discussion on the podcast The Ricky Gervais Show when a conversation about how contestants on certain reality shows had to eat a kangaroo's penis. Karl stated that, whilst in the morning he would be unable to face the appendage due to having a weak stomach, he would more than likely be able to eat it in the evening. His phrase "I could eat a knob at night" has since spawned dance music remixes, T-shirts and other merchandise, as well as discussion on many websites. A newspaper commenting on this issue described Pilkington as a "phenomenon" who had made "Internet history".[10]

Pilkington also found work independently of Gervais and Merchant on a number of projects. He appeared as a guest on the Nation 277 series Flipside TV, been featured several times as a guest on BBC series The Culture Show, was in several short films as part of the Channel 4 initiative "3 Minute Wonders", and Channel 4's "Karl Pilkington - Satisfied Fool" was broadcast 22nd October, 2007. The executive producer was Henry Normal, the co-owner of Baby Cow Productions[11]. Pilkington has also done voiceover work for such clients as Vodafone, HMV, W H Smith and Unilever. [12]

Books

References

Notes

  1. ^ Pilkington, K. (2006)
  2. ^ "Baby Cow Poductions". Retrieved 2008-02-01.
  3. ^ Pilkington, K. (Producer) & Merchant, S., Gervais, R. (Presenters). (2002, February 23rd)
  4. ^ Pilkington, K. (Producer) & Merchant, S., Gervais, R. (Presenters). (2002, March 2nd)
  5. ^ Pilkington, K. (Producer) & Merchant, S., Gervais, R. (Presenters). (2002, February 23rd)
  6. ^ Pilkington, K. (Producer) & Merchant, S., Gervais, R. (Presenters). (2003, December 7th)
  7. ^ "Karl Pilkington Biography". Retrieved 2007-03-19.
  8. ^ Heffernan, V. (2006).
  9. ^ Pilkington, K. (Producer) & Merchant, S., Gervais, R. (Presenters). (2005, June)
  10. ^ Egan, Mark. "Podcast creates an unlikely Internet icon". Rickygervais.com. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
  11. ^ Karl Pilkington
  12. ^ Qvoice Ltd
  13. ^ Karlology page at Waterstones.com

Sources

  1. Pilkington, K. (Producer) & Merchant, S., Gervais, R. (Presenters). (2003, December 7th). The Ricky Gervais Show [Radio programme]. London: Xfm London
  2. Pilkington, K. (Producer) & Merchant, S., Gervais, R. (Presenters). (2002, February 23rd). The Ricky Gervais Show [Radio programme]. London: Xfm London
  3. Pilkington, K. (Producer) & Merchant, S., Gervais, R. (Presenters). (2003, July 26th). The Ricky Gervais Show [Radio programme]. London: Xfm London
  4. Pilkington, K. (Producer) & Merchant, S., Gervais, R. (Presenters). (2003, August 2nd). The Ricky Gervais Show [Radio programme]. London: Xfm London
  5. Pilkington, K. (Producer) & Merchant, S., Gervais, R. (Presenters). (2003, November 1st). The Ricky Gervais Show [Radio programme]. London: Xfm London
  6. Pilkington, K. (Producer) & Merchant, S., Gervais, R. (Presenters). (2003, November 8th). The Ricky Gervais Show [Radio programme]. London: Xfm London
  7. Pilkington, K. (Producer) & Merchant, S., Gervais, R. (Presenters). (2003, November 29th). The Ricky Gervais Show [Radio programme]. London: Xfm London
  8. Pilkington, K. (Producer) & Merchant, S., Gervais, R. (Presenters). (2002, March 2nd). The Ricky Gervais Show [Radio programme]. London: Xfm London
  9. Pilkington, K. (Producer) & Merchant, S., Gervais, R. (Presenters). (2005, June). The Ricky Gervais Show [Radio programme]. London: Xfm London
  10. Pilkington, K. (Producer) & Merchant, S., Gervais, R. (Presenters). (2006, September). The Ricky Gervais Show [Podcast].
  11. Pilkington, K. (2006). "Ricky Gervais presents - The World of Karl Pilkington" Fourth Estate: London ISBN 978-1401303426
  12. GCap Media Plc authors, et al. (2007). "Karl Pilkington Biography" Retrieved April 15, 2007 from http://www.xfm.co.uk/Article.asp?id=86779
  13. Heffernan, V. (2006). "A Comic Expands His Persona via Podcast on The Ricky Gervais Show" Retrieved April 15, 2007 from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/24/arts/television/24heff.html (Requires full membership)
  14. Campling, C. (2005). "A Qualified success?" Retrieved April 15, 2007 from http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14934-1653726,00.html
  15. Amazon UK (2007). "Happy slapped by a jellyfish: the words of Karl Pilkington" Retrieved June 24, 2007 from Amazon
  16. RickyGervais.com (2008). "Ooohh Chimpanzee That!!! Monkey News" from Head Like A Fucking Orange
  17. The Karl Pilkington Poster Project (2008, April 2nd). "What's the point of this blog?" from http://worldsroundesthead.blogspot.com
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