The Beginners Guide to Karl
The Beginner's Guide To Karl Pilkington is a page dedicated to chronicling the complete works of Karl, giving information on his works and how you can access it.
More information on Karl and his earlier career are available on his page.
The XFM Shows: 2001-2005
The earliest work we have from Karl that is available to listen to are the Xfm shows. Running from 2001-2005, Pilkipedia hosts 92 shows which were recorded during this era.
Karl was producer on the shows which were hosted by Ricky Gervais and Stephen merchant, but soon became the heart of the show with his thoughts, beliefs and love of monkeys and the strange.
The collection is almost complete, with only a handful of shows missing at the beginning of their stint on the radio.
They aren't available on Pilkipedia any more, because of a copyright issue with XFM, but there are plenty of places around the net that have them (XFM themselves have some hosted on their site).
The Ricky Gervais Podcast: 2005-2008
After the XFM shows, Karl moved into doing Podcasts, again with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, but this time dropping the producer title and being the main attraction.
The podcasts ran from 2005 - 2008 with 5 series of podcasts.
The series are;
Series one, which was originally hosted for free by guardian.co.uk but has since become available as audiobooks on itunes
Series two, which followed the first series as a set of audiobooks for sale on itunes
Series three, again followed up as a series of audiobooks on itunes
The Podfather Trilogy (Series four), which was again, hosted by guardian.co.uk for free, but were later released as audiobooks from itunes
Series five, which was the final series of audiobooks available from itunes
They're all available on iTunes, under both the Podcast and Audiobook section.
Literature: 2006-2010
During the recording of the Ricky Gervais Show podcasts, Karl started work on writing books.
His first, The World of Karl Pilkington (2006), was a collection of transcripts from series one of the podcasts along with original artwork from Karl.
Karl followed this up with Happyslapped by a Jellyfish (2007). A collection of stories and anecdotes of Karls travels around the world.
His third, Karlology (2008), chronicles Karls search for knowledge.
His fourth book, An Idiot Abroad: The Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington (2010), is the travel diaries of his Sky 1 show.
All three are available to buy from all good book stores or online.
3 Minute Wonders: 2006
Karl created 3 minute long documentary shorts for Channel 4.
Episode 1: Life YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bHS4bXRGYE
Episode 2: Holidays YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKGHDCqOIvs
Episode 3: Health YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrs-AcvFtpQ
Episode 4: Nature YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGS3eYn5Cxk
Extras: 2007
Karl made a brief appearance in Gervais and Merchant's sitcom Extras. It was in the Christmas Special, and he played a 'fan' trying to speak to the main character Andy Millman. During the scene, if you turn the volume up you can hear Millman (played by Gervais) membling 'look at his roundey head' as he walks away from Karl.
You can see Karl's scene here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_bhVr1XF7g
Karl Pilkington: Satisfied Fool: 2007
In October 2007, Karl appeared in the Channel 4 documentary Karl Pilkington: Satisfied Fool. In it, he interviews scholars and writers in an attempt to discover whether intelligence is the key to happiness and discovered his IQ is 83.
The Ricky Gervais Show: 2010
The US subscription channel HBO commissioned an animated show of the Ricky Gervais Show pilots, which turned into a 12 episode series and was promptly renewed for a second (and again renewed for a third) season. It's critically acclaimed, winning an Emmy in 2010, and Karl's anecdotes are animated in roughly chronological order of the episode order of the podcasts.
Cemetery Junction: 2010
Karl also makes a brief appearance in Gervais and Merchant's drama Cemetery Junction. He played a (ridiculous looking) guest at a ball.
You can see Karl's scene here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irwMNee0Tp0
An Idiot Abroad: 2010
Sky 1, in the UK, commissioned a series of travelogues that involved Karl visiting the seven wonders of the world. The show mainly involves him moaning about where he was staying, moaning about the state of the country he was visiting, moaning about how the 'wonder' is just 'alright' and picking up the phone to Gervais and Merchant, who gave him tasks and activities to do along the way (such as visiting a religious festivial in India, where he met a man who could wrap his nob around a stick).
The show was a success though, being the highest rating original show for Sky 1 of the year and a ratings success around the world too, and Sky commissioned a second series - called An Idiot Abroad: The Bucket List, where Karl does the things people often put in 'lists before I die' (such as swimming with dolphins).