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Karl Pilkington is truly An Idiot Abroad

Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant reckon Karl Pilkinton is Britain's own Homer Simpson. In this travelogue he proves he is completely bonkers.

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There are quite a few new choices worth your attention tonight, including The Amazing Race Australia, Come Fly with Me and Offspring.

But for a great laugh check out the first episode of An Idiot Abroad tonight at 8:30pm on ONE.

Karl Pilkington is a mate of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant (you may have heard a bit from in the animated podcasts of The Ricky Gervais Show). These two spend a lot of their time laughing at Pilkington’s kooky observations. They call him a British Homer Simpson, and they’re right.

In this travelogue he leaves the comfort of Britain for foreign territories, none of whom observe English traditions.

In the first episode he is in China, stunned at the food eaten at open air markets. He stumbles into a public toilet with no doors and no toilet paper and is baffled by the fact that most toilet paper in the UK is “Made in China.”

Not even the Great Wall of China impresses this daft Pom.

He says, “You know, you can see it for miles, it goes on for miles, with all the hills and everything. But so does the M6, do you know what I mean? You can see that for miles, and you go great, and that does a job, you can drive on that.”

And wait until week 2 when he travels through India and meets a man with elephantitis. And the things another man can do with his penis will make your eyes water.

23 Responses

  3. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

    Does anyone know if it is available to buy in Australia on DVD yet? I have just had a little google but cannot find any concrete info.

    thanks

  5. Loved every minute of this last night!

    Next Monday night will be even better, because according to TV Week, SBS One will finally play out the remaining episodes from The Ricky Gervais Show in the 11pm timeslot – they dropped the Saturday night screenings at episode four.

  6. Great show – last nights ep had me in stitches in some places.

    One thing I would have loved to see is Karl’s reason for doing this – he knows they are having a joke on him, would like to know what he allows them to do it – I gather money talks, but still….!

  7. This was a great series. As it progresses you will actually sympathise with Karl on some – not all – of the things that he encounters and his reasons for disliking them.

  14. This is of of the most hilarious shows in a long time.

    @nrc_02 – the trouble with a US version would be the casting process since about 90% of the population would be suitable!

  16. I am looking forward to this, but because of TAR i will have to resort to online means to watch it.

    The China toilet story you mentioned he experiences is so true. You never go anywhere in China without a little packet of tissues!

  17. I’ve seen a few episodes of this already, all I can say is this show is equally entertaining and frustrating. How can one person be so ignorant when given such a great opportunity, I reckon there will be an American version shortly, this is right up there alley.

  19. I urge everyone to watch this show.
    It is both hilarious and gobsmackingly shocking to see how stupid/ignorant some people (like Karl) are about other countries and cultures.

  21. His trip to Rio is a rippa.. He’s not much in to the Rio beach lifestyle (if you know what I mean!!)

    Great show but am not sure how much is scripted

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