The burning question for Ricky Gervais fans is whether or not Karl Pilkington is a concocted character. I mean, he can’t be real, can he? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Ricky Gervais, the comic genius creator of the Office (BBC version), and his co-creator (Steve Merchant) have been doing a record-breaking podcast, The Ricky Gervais Show, over the past few months, and the producer, Karl Pilkington, has become an internet (and beyond) phenomenon as a result of his surreally odd musings on the show. I think he’s a character, but they continue to insist that he’s really like that and it’s certainly possible. If you haven’t heard the show, it’s downloadable through a free subscription to the podcast on iTunes (you don't need an ipod to do this) and it’s hilarious. Start from the first show to fully appreciate the emergence of Karl as a phenomenon. Here are some clips of Karl (courtesy of Screenhead) that predate the podcast which make me think he might be real, but I’m still not sure. In any case, he's hilarious.On a related note, I was thinking the other day about how the Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy story is going to be viewed post-Office, even though it was written a good year or so before I became a fan of the show. And now, it occurs to me that one of my main characters, Carl Caperton, is going to be seen at least as a nominal rip-off of Karl Pilkington. Goddamn you, Ricky.
update - in the last of the podcasts, Karl Pilkington has solved the existential problems posed by Kafka in The Metamorphosis. Well done, Karl.
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8 comments:
Just got into the gervais podcasts. I was hungover and suffering from 3 hours of sleep on the trip from san diego back to austin. Starbucks prevented me from sleep, but a few laugh out loud moments later it was all worth it.
Yes, it's quite "LOL". I could actually listen to hours of Ricky Gervais laughing and be reduced to tears. Has there ever been a comedian with a more genuine laugh? Well, excluding Carrot Top, obviously. And how about the perpetually underrated Steve Merchant - underrated in this very post, in fact. Always "spot on" with the timing. They're offering 4 more podcasts for $7. or was it 7 quid? crikey! can't recall.
What the hell is a pod cast?
to quote Wikipedia:
"Podcasting is the distribution of audio or video files, such as radio programs or music videos, over the internet using either RSS or Atom syndication for listening on mobile devices and personal computers. A podcast is a web feed of audio or video files placed on the Internet for anyone to subscribe to, and also the content of that feed. Podcasters' websites also may offer direct download of their files, but the subscription feed of automatically delivered new content is what distinguishes a podcast from a simple download or real-time streaming. Podcasting's essence is about creating content (audio or video) for an audience that wants to listen when they want, where they want, and how they want."
This particular podcast is free through iTunes, which I believe you can download free to a pc or mac.
VTK rulez
How far VTK has come in describing podcasts. it was just a short time ago when you were describing podcasts, highlighting what was erroneous in that description, and leaving it on the public printer at your office. Kudos.
oh no you didn't, Greg Lubin
I stopped pretending I was a real techie that day. Now I just crib from the wik wik wikipedia.
now that I think of it, I got laid off shortly after leaving that documentation of my technical ignorance and general disdain for the company on the company printer.
I'm going to see if I can hook Jazzy McGee up with a job there. They deserve eachother.
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