Karl Pilkington
Thousands across the globe are in serious debate over whether what we have before
us is the off-spring of a official size bowling ball and stressed chimpanzee or the
funniest person since … well Ricky Gervais. Karl Pilkington, originally from Manchester
and having burnt 33 candles, lived a less then normal childhood with a variety of
events and personalities shaping the being we all know and love.
Having your parents told you will “never be a high flyer”, going on caravan holidays
during term time due to it being cheaper and knowing a lady who rode a tricycle with a
basket attached to the rear can have a negative effect on one’s state of mind. Add that
to having a pet magpie (who went by the name of Maggie) who pecked him in the head,
disappointingly receiving a ZX81 when he longed for the Spectrum ZX and seeing the
genitalia of his Auntie Nora (which he claims resembles a split tennis ball) leaves
us with maybe not a reason but certainly an excuse for the character he has become.
Karl started his working life as a paper boy, cheating death when he fell from his
bedroom window after trying to make a sly escape when mummy Pilkington locked him in due
to the harsh weather conditions. In his own words “I think if you’re good at a job you
enjoy it more and I was really good at delivering papers.” His first proper job was
working in a printers at the age of 15, where he claims working a 24 hour shift pressing
CD’s for a band lead to the loss of his hair, not forgetting the substantial knowledge
also playing a role here. His next job role was head of production at XFM, a London radio
station and it is here where he met his long term girlfriend Suzanne. What brought them
together? Suzanne at a coffee vending machine needed 10p and it is Karl, her nude headed
knight in shining armour who came to the rescue and they have been together ever since.
Mr Pilkington met Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant when the pair returned to XFM and
was lumped with Karl as their producer. Originally never heard from, it wasn’t long till the
amusing and naive comments and opinions from the fella made it on air and it was here the gem
was discovered and later made part of the team on the Ricky Gervais Show Podcasts.
So what makes Karl Pilkington the genius that he is? Few have questioned whether this is a
character made up and performed but Ricky Gervais commented on this stating that it took years
to write the hours of material found within The Office and Extras, a character scripted this well
would not have been wasted on a poxy radio station (speaking of XFM). We all know a Karl character,
or did so until the last year of secondary school and here we have a rare example of such an
individual being brought into the limelight. Never meaning to ‘have a go’ but always seems to,
be sure to pre-order his upcoming book ‘The World of Karl Pilkington’
from Amazon UK
or Amazon.com
if you’re not from around these here parts.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 7:12 am and is filed under Personalities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.