TV SERIES · 2010

An Idiot Abroad

AdventureComedyDocumentaryReality TV43 min per episode

Karl Pilkington is an unwilling globe-trotter, packed off on international trips by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, who stay in the UK and monitor his progress from afar. The joke is built into the setup: Karl has little interest in travel, so each new destination, local custom, and tourist landmark becomes another source of bafflement, complaint, and blunt observation. As he moves from one stop to the next, the series twists the usual travel-doc format around his stubbornly uncurious perspective, with Gervais and Merchant needling him from home while Karl tries to make sense of the world on his own terms.