julie Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Hi Folks I'm hoping some of you can give me some background on the tv shows and books written -- titled "An Idiot Abroad " I am reading the first book ,and also got the videos to watch on my Kindle along with reading the book. They aren't in the same order ,but it's ok . I'm wondering first of all,who are these 3 guys ? The one who wrote the book and got sent on the journey is named Karl Pilkington .The other 2 guys who set him up to go on this adventure are Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant. I have no clue who any of them are . Do they have a tv show over there ? And the poor Karl guy ,is he just the butt of the other 2 guy's jokes, or does he kinda play the straight man,and act serious ? He really does seem to get perturbed by all the shenanigans the other 2 guys make him do . Is it all an act or is he playing along ? I watched the first 3 videos last night and I don't think I have EVER laughed that hard in my life. That guy is SO funny . I just wanted a little background if any of you know anything about the show or the book. Thanks -- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Your best bet is good 'ol Wikipedia. Ricky Gervais's page Stephen Merchant's page You'll find links to An Idiot Abroad on there too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Napsack Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Hi Folks I'm hoping some of you can give me some background on the tv shows and books written -- titled "An Idiot Abroad " I am reading the first book ,and also got the videos to watch on my Kindle along with reading the book. They aren't in the same order ,but it's ok . I'm wondering first of all,who are these 3 guys ? The one who wrote the book and got sent on the journey is named Karl Pilkington .The other 2 guys who set him up to go on this adventure are Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant. I have no clue who any of them are . Do they have a tv show over there ? And the poor Karl guy ,is he just the butt of the other 2 guy's jokes, or does he kinda play the straight man,and act serious ? He really does seem to get perturbed by all the shenanigans the other 2 guys make him do . Is it all an act or is he playing along ? I watched the first 3 videos last night and I don't think I have EVER laughed that hard in my life. That guy is SO funny . I just wanted a little background if any of you know anything about the show or the book. Thanks -- Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have both done stuff for TV and film. They wrote The Office, Extras and Life's Too Short. They worked with Karl Pilkington on The Ricky Gervais Show (a podcast/TV show). Pretty sure Karl isn't playing a character. From what I hear he's actually like that. Most of this stuff can be found over on Wikipedia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 I'm hoping some of you can give me some background on the tv shows and books written -- titled "An Idiot Abroad " I've watched a couple of episodes and downloaded his book (haven't read it yet) because I found it so funny. I know Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant wrote The Office over here (Gervais starred in it), but apart from that I don't know too much about them, except that the show was very funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 (edited) Thank you for the links Janet and thank you,Lord Napsack ( cute name ) . -- I'm really not much of a tv or movie person,so am lacking greatly in that area . I'll head over to Wiki to look them up . ** I MAY be the only person in America who hasn't seen The Office ,although I did see the clip of the one when they had the wedding dance down the aisle . Still trying to find out why the big guy wore shoeboxes instead of shoes .??? Thanks Bobbly The shows are so very funny. The ones I have seen so far are the India ,Israel and the China one. Very funny. The Hubster kept looking at me all night wondering why I was laughing so hard. Sure beats anything I've seen on TV in a long time ! Edited August 7, 2012 by julie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Strangely enough Julie, I've been listening to the Ricky Gervais podcast today! Karl was the producer of a radio show that Ricky and Stephen worked on together. Although he's not playing a character and is apparently being himself, I still find it hard to believe that he's not playing upto a caricature of himself at times. However, the podcasts are hilarious. I don't usually like Ricky Gervais as an actor or writer, but put him in an interview or in an informal discussion like the podcast, and I think he's a genius. In bookish news, I've read some more of Wild Mary and absolutely loving it - it's making me want to re-read all of Wesley's books again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Thanks Claire Those guys must be quite popular from what I have read on the Wiki pages . I looked up the book you are reading on amazon --sure looks like quite an "interesting " read ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Napsack Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 ** I MAY be the only person in America who hasn't seen The Office ,although I did see the clip of the one when they had the wedding dance down the aisle . Still trying to find out why the big guy wore shoeboxes instead of shoes .??? Oh, when I mention The Office I mean the original series that was made over here. The American version is based off of it, but from what I can tell from the clips I've seen it's quite different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Oh, when I mention The Office I mean the original series that was made over here. The American version is based off of it, but from what I can tell from the clips I've seen it's quite different. Oh, sorry ! See , I had no idea they had 2 different shows . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Those guys must be quite popular from what I have read on the Wiki pages . I loved The Office (Brit version .. haven't seen the US one) and Extra's .. very funny but mostly because of all the awkwardness (Ricky's fave TV shows are Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld and you can see their influence in his work). Karl I think is playing up a little .. but a lot of it is genuine because he hasn't changed much from when he was just a producer on their radio show. The Idiot Abroad series is hilarious .. I too laughed until I hurt. Also 'The Ricky Gervais Show' which is based on their podcasts is very funny. They basically just throw a lot of subjects at Karl and he gives his thoughts .. and Karl's thoughts are always more than a little disturbing It's all the more funny because they've animated them .. Ricky looks like Fred Flintstone .. and the animation means that when Karl goes on one of his flights of fancy they can show it .. which they could never do otherwise (one of his ideas to keep the population down .. was that only elderly women should have babies .. that the babies remain dormant like an apple pip and then are born when the lady dies .. you should have seen the animated sequence for it ) It's American produced I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 I just downloaded this last Friday...was the Friday Freebie Yep thats when i got it too, glad it was a freebie too as normally i think its quite expensive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 What's a Friday freebie, and where does one get one?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueK Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 What's a Friday freebie, and where does one get one?! Yes, I would like to know that too. I would have downloaded that as it sounded very interesting. Just checking on Amazon now and it's back up to £5 ish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sofia Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Yes, I would like to know that too. I would have downloaded that as it sounded very interesting. Just checking on Amazon now and it's back up to £5 ish. Every Friday Barnes and Noble (Nook) has a freebie....I just pop Free Friday in the search actually....I assume Amazon is pretty much the same way...though I'm not sure if they often have the same books going for free or even the daily find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Thanks. I don't think Amazon do that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 I dont just have a friday freebie, i have freebies everyday, must stop downloading them! today I've downloaded UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snapex Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Finished Ocean of Blood by Darren Shan last night, Started Palace of the Damned by Darren Shan today. After I've finished The Saga of Larten Crepsley I've been ordered to read The Rigante Series by David Gemmell haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sofia Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 I dont just have a friday freebie, i have freebies everyday, must stop downloading them! today I've downloaded UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn well yeah, nook offers a bunch of freebies.....but it's the Friday one that seems to get the focus...although I'll admit Kindle's regular freebie section seems more interesting than Nook's! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 well yeah, nook offers a bunch of freebies.....but it's the Friday one that seems to get the focus...although I'll admit Kindle's regular freebie section seems more interesting than Nook's! I've never looked at the nook freebies, might have to just to compare, i do have to restrain myself a bit though otherwise id have hundreds of free books! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Half way through Ghost Hunter,the sixth and final novel in Michelle Paver's Chronicles of Darkness series. Next up is One Child's War by Hugh Hafani Hayes,a fictional novel set in London during the Blitz in WW2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devi Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 I've decided to restart my book, with such a long gap between chapters, I had forgotten a lot of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 I finished Breakfast at Tiffany's and was quite disappointed not to "see" Holly go to Tiffany's! Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke is next, and due to the rather distressing subject matter of this one, think I might be after a light hearted yarn afterwards! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian. Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 I finished Breakfast at Tiffany's and was quite disappointed not to "see" Holly go to Tiffany's! Snap, I have just finished it as well, great minds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 I'm part way through the first story in Full Dark, No Stars. Good stuff, but I can't fully get into short stories. I also bought The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1, and am enjoying reading that and seeing how it compares to the TV show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 I've just finished Wild Mary the authorised biography of the author Mary Wesley. Great read, and I definitely want to re-read all her books again now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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