Ricky Gervais Presents The World of Karl Pilkington

This is an oldie (published in 2006), but one I have revisited several times recently because I love the television series, An Idiot Abroad, starring Karl Pilkington, Ricky Gervais, and Stephen Merchant (creators), and this book keeps me laughing when the episodes end.

Ricky Gervais presents The World of Karl Pilkington is a book made up of dialogue between Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington, and is in fact, “the best of” The Ricky Gervais Show podcasts featuring Karl.   Gervais calls Pilkington “the funniest man I’ve ever met”, and it’s easy to see why.

Karl Pilkington has hilarious takes on subjects such as re-incarnation, overpopulation, travel, metaphors, lazy inventions, and even monkey issues. He gives us such gems as this:

(from his list of Animals We Don’t Need)

“Jellyfish – they don’t know what they are doing. They just float about stinging stuff. They are 97% water, and they are always in water, so why not make em another 3% water and just make em into water……..drought sorted.”

This book is over 200 pages in length, and it provides me with non-stop laughter from beginning to end. Ricky and Stephen present Karl with a question to ponder in each segment/chapter, and you can almost envision the concentrated expression on his face as he tries to work out the answer, or how he feels about the subject in the question posed. His delivery suggests he’s either a comedic genius……..or an idiot. Gervais suggests it’s the latter.

Throughout the book, there are humorous illustrations drawn by Pilkington, as well as excerpts from his diary at the end of the book.

For fans of The Ricky Gervais Show, or An Idiot Abroad, (or Karl Pilkington, himself) this book is a must read.

 4 & 1/2 Stars (minus a star because this is select humor)