For three seasons, viewers of hilarious travelogue An Idiot Abroad were exposed to the enigma that is Karl Pilkington. Sheltered in Britain for nearly his whole life, travel both baffled and stressed Karl, especially since his friends Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant were basically purposely torturing him. Time and time again, Karl found something to complain about, whether it was the unfamiliar food, lack of a proper toilet, or being forced repeatedly to face his fear of bungee jumping. Much of his rationale seems crazy, but when you really think about it, the practicality of his thought process makes perfect sense. Here are the most ingenious Karl Pilkington quotes from An Idiot Abroad.
After visiting the island known as the happiest place on Earth, Karl made this observation. Because, honestly, who needs to be happy all the time?
Karl put himself in the metaphorical shoes of an insect and figured out it’d be really difficult to get a girlfriend or find your friends.
Parts of the wall are falling apart and, according to Karl, the zoo at the Great Wall is there to distract tourists from how shitty it all is.
Once he explained why it’d be better to live in a dingy cave across from Petra. Karl further applied this theory to physical appearances. It’s better to be ugly and look at pretty people, than to be pretty and have to look at ugly people all the time.
Though he managed to hike up Mount Fuji, Karl couldn’t take in the beauty around him because of a stray bulldozer. I’d like to think I could ignore it, unlike him, but probably not…
Certainly, when you go to visit the Great Pyramids, no one mentions the trash. Karl was not impressed, and educated all of us on what to expect.
Working off the assumption that the person on the bike could afford to buy a van, looked into it, and decided against it because he loves overloading his bike too much.
Karl believed living near a volcano would be useful so you could chuck old mattresses into it. Turns out, it’s illegal. But could it fix our waste problems?
This modern feat of engineering doesn’t impress Karl. He’s distracted by the way the robot squats and walks.
Actually, true statement.
Sure, Karl is kind of a little dense and the remarks he makes could be construed as offensive. But since he has the ignorance of a good-natured child, it’s difficult to get upset.