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Karl Pilkington - Sick Of It

Started by Malcy, July 05, 2018, 10:17:55 AM

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Malcy

https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/karl_pilkington_sick_of_it/

QuoteSick Of It is a scripted comedy series that sees Karl Pilkington takes on two roles - himself, and the voice inside his head, as he muddles through the mundane life he may have led if he hadn't met Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

The series follows Karl, a middle-aged man recently ditched by his long-term girlfriend, as he muddles through life and attempts to make sense of the modern world.

Now living with his elderly auntie, Karl's closest companion is Inner Self; the voice in his head who says what he really thinks without the risk of offending others. As Karl attempts to move on from the break up and sort out his life, the voice in his head appears periodically to guide, criticise and dispense his unorthodox philosophy of life, with some interesting results!

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgjRdSm_qmI

Noodle Lizard

Who would've predicted something like this from Pilkington?  Looks like it could be quite good.

checkoutgirl

It looks like it could be well worth a watch but as RFV has mentioned a few times, if you've been following Pilkington's career there will be plenty of familiar tropes and themes going over again. I am interested in the idea that one side of the persona is too negative while the other is too positive. I've probably seen 75% of Karl's artistic output over the last 13 years and I can't think of a single, solitary instance or situation where Karl was too positive. His entire shtick is built around being relentlessly negative. I suppose the positive half lends a dramatic device where Karl grows as a person and conquers some life lesson by the end of the series and hence the character arc happens thence.

The auntie doesn't look like how I pictured her, 1,000,000 bonus points to Karl if she doesn't fart for 5 minutes, put a valance around everything or have an irrational fear of burglars.

up_the_hampipe

This might be the strongest evidence yet that Karl Pilkington has been a character all along. Surely the Karl Pilkington that has been presented to us all these years wouldn't be able to write something like this?

BritishHobo

It does look like he's translated what he's famous for into something quite interesting and different. It must have been odd for him; after The Moaning of Life and Derek, it would have been difficult to know how to keep things going as a personality without being limited to the formats he'd done with Gervais. But it's unexpectedly unique. Not just a straight wacky sitcom, maybe something a bit more thoughtful.

Looks really fucking nice as well. Most of the director's previous work is An Idiot Abroad and a couple of other documentaries and that Hasselhoff sitcom. Fair play, it looks gorgeous.

BritishHobo

Quote from: up_the_hampipe on July 05, 2018, 01:37:57 PM
This might be the strongest evidence yet that Karl Pilkington has been a character all along. Surely the Karl Pilkington that has been presented to us all these years wouldn't be able to write something like this?

Where this debate splits for me though is what is the character supposed to be, what exactly is it that can't be real? I can never see what's meant to be an act. Once you strip back Gervais' HE'S THE STUPIDEST MAN IN THE WORLD HA HA BALD ORANGE HEAD MANC MONKEY CUNT! showman hyperbole, the Karl we listen to is just a bloke with a fairly consistent outlook on life where he places a lot of value on things he already knows and is comfortable with. He's never been stupid - he was a talented radio producer, and his Karl in a Film features always showed a knack for editing and comedy - just a bit sheltered on life outside of his own experiences. I never got what's so unrealistic about him that he has to be a character.

Malcy

Quote from: up_the_hampipe on July 05, 2018, 01:37:57 PM
This might be the strongest evidence yet that Karl Pilkington has been a character all along. Surely the Karl Pilkington that has been presented to us all these years wouldn't be able to write something like this?

It's been co-written with Richard Yee who is also the director and a producer.

checkoutgirl

Quote from: up_the_hampipe on July 05, 2018, 01:37:57 PM
This might be the strongest evidence yet that Karl Pilkington has been a character all along. Surely the Karl Pilkington that has been presented to us all these years wouldn't be able to write something like this?

He is a character, but a character that can stay on for hours at a time and that just happens to be 85% similar to the way he really is. For instance in real life I'm sure Karl would laugh if not a lot then still a fair bit. But on the radio he hardly ever laughs because that would detract from his grumpy persona. But then again he is pretty grumpy and miserable in real life I would bet.

It's a bit like Rich Herring (or god know how many comedians), he largely is like the person he presents on stage but in real life interviews he is 50% more thoughtful and about 20% less offensive. It's still him though.

Utter Shit

Quote from: checkoutgirl on July 05, 2018, 01:31:39 PM
I've probably seen 75% of Karl's artistic output over the last 13 years and I can't think of a single, solitary instance or situation where Karl was too positive. His entire shtick is built around being relentlessly negative.

Bit of a stretch but you could say that there is positivity in his insistence that all the monkey news he presents on XFM is true.

checkoutgirl

Quote from: BritishHobo on July 05, 2018, 01:45:33 PM
He's never been stupid

He has been extremely uneducated and ill informed at times though. Like he'd never heard the saying "Waste not want not" and said he didn't know what it means. Sorry but that's fucking stupid by any standard.

checkoutgirl

Quote from: BritishHobo on July 05, 2018, 01:45:33 PM
I never got what's so unrealistic about him that he has to be a character

I think he stifles his laughter and other little touches like that, where in real life he might just laugh freely. Also comedy is often about magnifying certain aspect of your normal character for effect.

checkoutgirl

Quote from: Utter Shit on July 05, 2018, 01:48:36 PM
Bit of a stretch but you could say that there is positivity in his insistence that all the monkey news he presents on XFM is true.

Again, pretending he thinks Monkey News is true when he knows full well they're made up, by him mostly. That is a character he is playing, plain and simple.

Malcy

I've never bought in to the whole all an act thing. I know a manc who is extremely like Karl.

up_the_hampipe

Quote from: BritishHobo on July 05, 2018, 01:45:33 PM
Where this debate splits for me though is what is the character supposed to be, what exactly is it that can't be real? I can never see what's meant to be an act. Once you strip back Gervais' HE'S THE STUPIDEST MAN IN THE WORLD HA HA BALD ORANGE HEAD MANC MONKEY CUNT! showman hyperbole, the Karl we listen to is just a bloke with a fairly consistent outlook on life where he places a lot of value on things he already knows and is comfortable with. He's never been stupid - he was a talented radio producer, and his Karl in a Film features always showed a knack for editing and comedy - just a bit sheltered on life outside of his own experiences. I never got what's so unrealistic about him that he has to be a character.

He's a very unique person who was propped up by comedians, so people are bound to think he's a character for their show. Some of the things he says are astonishing to the point where I have wondered how he functions in life. But he does have a creative mind, I suppose.

checkoutgirl

Quote from: Malcy on July 05, 2018, 01:57:19 PM
I've never bought in to the whole all an act thing.

I assume you're not referring to anything I said. I said 15% an act or "augmented self routine" would be another way of putting it. Mainly the genuine article with carefully placed embellishments here and there for comedic effect. Not laughing very much would be an example. Presenting Monkey News as fact would be another.

Replies From View

"From the mind of Karl Pilkington" grates, for some reason.  This endless framing of him as some kind of idiot savant or genius when really he's just a comedian who for years had someone lowering expectations all the time by calling him a fool.

newbridge

The persona and sheltered ignorance were/are real, but Karl is also not an idiot so he deliberately played it up for effect. This seems obvious to me if you listen to the XFM shows as he gradually took a larger role.

Ironically I think he has better comic instincts than Gervais.

up_the_hampipe

Quote from: newbridge on July 05, 2018, 03:21:11 PM
Ironically I think he has better comic instincts than Gervais.

I think Gervais would even agree with that.

Z

He's just that kind of guy who naturally capable of churning out pretty funny stuff without trying particularly hard or making a fuss about it. I've met a few people like that and it's always been a family thing, the mam or dad will be like that and all the kids will be, their whole manner of communication just beat perfect.


Didn't think that trailer looked too good. I'll check it out though.


Artemis

Now, where have I seen this before? Oh, that's right. Everything else he's ever done.

Malcy


Timothy

Rudy from Misfits was great, wasn't he?

Replies From View

Quote from: Malcy on August 24, 2018, 10:23:35 PM
Behind the scenes video. Starts 27th of September

https://youtube.com/watch?v=M354G08aG_A

Every single time he needs to flesh out a point he uses a story that originates from his Xfm days over 15 years ago and has been repeated at least ten times since.  He couldn't even get to the end of that interview without repeating the already-tired anecdote about wanting his parents to call him Brett and forgetting he'd asked them.  Before this series begins I should create a Karl Pilkington Anecdotes Bingo game for us to play, I think.

H-O-W-L

I'm not hoping for much but I'm quietly optimistic that it might be quite good if there's less focus on Haha Dumb Man and more focus on the whole like, self-pessimism/self-destruction stuff.

Also, Incredible Bongo Band in the trailer makes Karl a winner IMO.

Replies From View

Quote from: H-O-W-L on August 24, 2018, 10:57:19 PM
I'm not hoping for much but I'm quietly optimistic that it might be quite good if there's less focus on Haha Dumb Man and more focus on the whole like, self-pessimism/self-destruction stuff.

Me too, but I'm struggling with how clever they think they are being.

St_Eddie

I thought that this looked awful from the trailer and the central premise irritates me (man can communicate with his ego).  It's the sort of premise which instantly makes me disengage from a programme because it's distracting and tedious in its gimmickery.

Still, I'll give it a chance because I like Karl Pilkington.

Nowhere Man

At this point I honestly don't give a shit if its a character, because he makes me laugh regardless of whether he believes in every daft thing he's saying or not. The most interesting thing about him has nothing to do with if he's really an idiot savant or not, but just how he delivers his material which is the mark of a very funny personality. Even if he isn't real (which at this point I doubt) the fact that he's kept the persona going all these years with nary a slip up shows how good he is at what he does. Now compare that to how Ricky has somehow completely forgotten how to play David Brent properly since the Office Xmas specials.

Speaking of which, i'm glad Karl's continuing to distance himself from Gervais because he's too brilliant to just be his performing monkey. That comes from someone who really liked the old XFM shows.

The trailer looked like shite but most trailers look like shite. The behind the scenes video looks better, just because the pacing is better + no annoying music over the top.

Dr Rock

It would be funny if this became more popular than The Office.

JamesTC

Quote from: Replies From View on August 24, 2018, 10:50:23 PM
Every single time he needs to flesh out a point he uses a story that originates from his Xfm days over 15 years ago and has been repeated at least ten times since.  He couldn't even get to the end of that interview without repeating the already-tired anecdote about wanting his parents to call him Brett and forgetting he'd asked them.  Before this series begins I should create a Karl Pilkington Anecdotes Bingo game for us to play, I think.
Auntie had wind for five minutes.
Horse in the house.
Kick me own height.
Tipp-ex spider.
Shaven cat.
Couldn't make it to school because of wind.
Mentally disabled kid in a wheelie bin.
Near death experience when eating Mr Freeze.
Near death experience when eating bad cream cakes.
Near death experience when falling down hill.

The possibilities are endless.

checkoutgirl

I just hope it has plenty of stuff about his dad who I believe might be even funnier than Karl.

Train crash.
Phonebox shopping theft.
Cows incident.
London eye refusal.
Inspector Pilkington.
Catalogue rent.
Sawed bed.
Fat family.
Don't bury me in a coffin.
Good film ruined.
Mate with a chimp.
Trans mate with a chimp.
£14.00 tea and scones.

Like Karl but 50% extra free. The possibilities are endless. It's the one real shame about Karl's career that we didn't get more of his dad.