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Karl Pilkington (born September 23, 1972 in Manchester) is a British radio producer perhaps best known for producing the radio show that brought together the writers of The Office, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

Pilkington was initially an off-air producer of the show, which was broadcast on Xfm, but his antics soon led to him joining Merchant and Gervais on-air. Some of Pilkington's most popular contributions to the show include Monkey News (news which is supposed to be about monkeys, but is almost always about chimpanzees), Rockbusters and Songs of Phrase.

Pilkington is sometimes mentioned in Ricky Gervais interviews, and is often on the receiving end of Gervais' practical jokes. In addition, Pilkington appears in a twenty minute interview on Ricky Gervais' live standup comedy DVD, Politics.

Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington were reunited for a six-week weekend slot on Xfm that ended on July 2, 2005. tim horne had a hat. the hat was rather big. he decided that it was best if he shot himself. he missed and shot a pregnant woman priest. he felt happy. he liked the feeling. you may be next.

Views and beliefs

Pilkington has expressed several opinions which most people would find unusual (and sometimes offensive). These include:

• Gay people should have their own public toilets.
• Issac Newton did not contribute much to human civilization as discovering gravity did not affect us as it had always been there. Had everyone been floating about then he would rightfully deserve the amount of credit he receives.
• Einstein's contribution to humanity is similarly unimpressive as Pilkington has never had to use mc², whereas, in contrast, whoever invented the video recorder has received no recognition despite the fact that he watches one a week.
• An infinite number of monkeys using an infinite number of typewriters for an infinite amount of time, could not produce the complete work of Shakespeare, unless they have read it.
• Chinese people age badly in comparison to other races
• Old men don't eat twix.

It is important to note that, while some people have been offended by his comments in the past, particularly those regarding the chinese and homosexual communities, he has stated his goal was never to offend, merely state his opinion. On the interview with Ricky Gervais, which can be found on the DVD Politics, he stated that "We're all the same really" when asked about the issue of race and responded that "Gays are alright" when asked about homosexuality.

Speculation

Chris Campling, a journalist writing for the Times has speculated that Karl Pilkington is not a real person, but an actor portraying the role of a scripted character created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Campling pointed towards the fact that Pilkington's views on chinese people had been stated on Gervais' radio show, before he stated the same thing on his interview with Gervais, on the politics DVD, which Campling found suspicious. Merchant and Gervais have denied claims that Pilkington is a creation of them, claiming that Gervais encouraged him to bring up his view on chinese people because it has comedic value. Merchant also stated that he would be ashamed if the radio show was scripted. Ricky agreed, stating "We spend 3 months on a half-hour script, how could we script a two-hour show every week?" Merchant added "If we came up with a character as good as Karl, i would never ever use him on a crappy little radio station like this one (Xfm London)"