An Idiot Abroad

[Gandalf]

I thought it was very funny. Korea has much more in common with China than Japan (despite what the Koreans think), so a lot of that rang true.

I have been in bars where I have been served fried bugs as a side dish.

I have been in too many situations where people are hawking their throats out and I get dirty looks for blowing a nose.

I have seen grown men wrestle with a live octopus down their throat.

None of the toilets out here have tissue (always go in with tissue in your jean pockets!).

I though pilkington seemed quite genuine, but he wasn't so funny from the Kung Fu point onwards for me. But for sure, there were moments of absoute hilarity.

I like the subtle stuff, like his face when that woman closes the curtain on the coach ride. Genius.

That was great. And you know, they do that! Most Asian people I have met like to nap on the bus and hate the sunlight. Of course, Karl Pilkington there got a great comedy moment from it.

That stuff is surely natural, but if you really wanted to plan for it and knew the culture, you could. I do like to think it is all natural though. It's certainly more fun that way.

[ono]

I thought it was very funny. Korea has much more in common with China than Japan (despite what the Koreans think), so a lot of that rang true.

I have been in bars where I have been served fried bugs as a side dish.

I have been in too many situations where people are hawking their throats out and I get dirty looks for blowing a nose.

I have seen grown men wrestle with a live octopus down their throat.

None of the toilets out here have tissue (always go in with tissue in your jean pockets!).

I though pilkington seemed quite genuine, but he wasn't so funny from the Kung Fu point onwards for me. But for sure, there were moments of absoute hilarity.

I like the subtle stuff, like his face when that woman closes the curtain on the coach ride. Genius.

That was great. And you know, they do that! Most Asian people I have met like to nap on the bus and hate the sunlight. Of course, Karl Pilkington there got a great comedy moment from it.

That stuff is surely natural, but if you really wanted to plan for it and knew the culture, you could. I do like to think it is all natural though. It's certainly more fun that way.

I do think he is naturally like that. But i got the impression that the producers want him to be obviously stupid. The podcasts were almost cult like because the stupidity was pretty random and there was never any pressure for him to be stupid because the show already existed with him as a side attraction, and even before that on XFM he was just a button presser.

Now he's got his own platform, he's under pressure to be as stupid as he naturally is. I felt some of it was forced and a little obvious when i watched the China one, but it could just be me being too critical. I've invested far too much time into believing and hoping he's real in any case.

That aside, i'm looking forward to next weeks. His head makes me laugh.

[Fenster]

Come on guys, you think Karl is really a thicko?

The brilliance is - his "stupid" observations actually make perfect sense. I laughed out loud a few times. Thought it was excellent.

[Gandalf]

Come on guys, you think Karl is really a thicko?

The brilliance is - his "stupid" observations actually make perfect sense. I laughed out loud a few times. Thought it was excellent.

That's the thing. He doesn't seem stupid as such, I would class it more as warped. He will say the things that other people have been conditioned away from mentioning or saying. In a lot of the scenes he was just pointing out the obvious. Very much just making observations and riffing on the cultural differences. A lot of "what's the point in this?" or "why do they do that?". I agree, a lot of the time he is bang on the money. I agree with him about the great wall, about the pollution, about the hawking on buses, the squat toilets etc. He is right, but says things and acts in a way that just makes it funny.

[Fenster]

Come on guys, you think Karl is really a thicko?

The brilliance is - his "stupid" observations actually make perfect sense. I laughed out loud a few times. Thought it was excellent.

That's the thing. He doesn't seem stupid as such, I would class it more as warped. He will say the things that other people have been conditioned away from mentioning or saying. In a lot of the scenes he was just pointing out the obvious. Very much just making observations and riffing on the cultural differences. A lot of "what's the point in this?" or "why do they do that?". I agree, a lot of the time he is bang on the money. I agree with him about the great wall, about the pollution, about the hawking on buses, the squat toilets etc. He is right, but says things and acts in a way that just makes it funny.

Well yeah of course it's funny, he is a comedian, he clearly plays up the dry wit act.

In this episode he never once laughs/smiles during it, even though he is intentionally being funny, apart from when he accidentally threw the needle into the camera mans arm, which was obviously not scripted

[Gandalf]

Come on guys, you think Karl is really a thicko?

The brilliance is - his "stupid" observations actually make perfect sense. I laughed out loud a few times. Thought it was excellent.

That's the thing. He doesn't seem stupid as such, I would class it more as warped. He will say the things that other people have been conditioned away from mentioning or saying. In a lot of the scenes he was just pointing out the obvious. Very much just making observations and riffing on the cultural differences. A lot of "what's the point in this?" or "why do they do that?". I agree, a lot of the time he is bang on the money. I agree with him about the great wall, about the pollution, about the hawking on buses, the squat toilets etc. He is right, but says things and acts in a way that just makes it funny.

Well yeah of course it's funny, he is a comedian, he clearly plays up the dry wit act.

In this episode he never once laughs/smiles during it, even though he is intentionally being funny, apart from when he accidentally threw the needle into the camera mans arm, which was obviously not scripted

For sure, he is really really deadpan. Not even a glimmer of a smirk most of the time.

One of the funniest bits for me was where he was gagging on the food. Surely that was genuine.

That's the thing with this. Obviously he is someone that is not exactly in his element when travelling, but at the same time it's hard to tell just where the line blurs between hamming it up and just being himself.

It's a view that seems to divide people.

[Fenster]

Come on guys, you think Karl is really a thicko?

The brilliance is - his "stupid" observations actually make perfect sense. I laughed out loud a few times. Thought it was excellent.

That's the thing. He doesn't seem stupid as such, I would class it more as warped. He will say the things that other people have been conditioned away from mentioning or saying. In a lot of the scenes he was just pointing out the obvious. Very much just making observations and riffing on the cultural differences. A lot of "what's the point in this?" or "why do they do that?". I agree, a lot of the time he is bang on the money. I agree with him about the great wall, about the pollution, about the hawking on buses, the squat toilets etc. He is right, but says things and acts in a way that just makes it funny.

Well yeah of course it's funny, he is a comedian, he clearly plays up the dry wit act.

In this episode he never once laughs/smiles during it, even though he is intentionally being funny, apart from when he accidentally threw the needle into the camera mans arm, which was obviously not scripted

For sure, he is really really deadpan. Not even a glimmer of a smirk most of the time.

One of the funniest bits for me was where he was gagging on the food. Surely that was genuine.

That's the thing with this. Obviously he is someone that is not exactly in his element when travelling, but at the same time it's hard to tell just where the line blurs between hamming it up and just being himself.

It's a view that seems to divide people.

I'm sure the gagging was genuine, with him hamming it up a bit, but he knew exactly that he was gonna eat toad, they set all that up in the beginging when in the office with Gervais and Merchant.

Whatever though it's funny stuff