Karl "Head Like a F**king Orange" Pilkington, a bald, round-headed Mancunian twonk, has published his latest book: "The Further Adventures of An Idiot Abroad." If, like me, you are a fan of the man who his best friend Ricky Gervais once called "the funniest man alive in Britain today" - and Karl's fanbase is growing all the time - this book is a must-read.
The book is his hilarious account of his hilarious trips to various places around the world in the TV series "An Idiot Abroad 2" and is the follow-up to his previous book "An Idiot Abroad", which was based on the first series of the "An Idiot Abroad" trilogy.
In the second series of the comedy travel documentary, Karl's friends Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant sent the foreign travel-hating Karl to places such as New Zealand, Vanuatu (where he meets a tribe which worships Prince Philip as a god), Russia, Mongolia, Thailand, USA, Australia, South Africa, Uganda and Japan so he could take part in various "Things To Do Before You Die" that he chose from a 100-activity long Bucket List. Karl chooses things like "Ride the Trans-Siberian Railway" (the longest train journey in the world), "Swim with dolphins in Australia", "Travel along Route 66", Climb Mount Fuji" and "See mountain gorillas in their natural habitat."
So, off he went around the world to perform those "Things To Do Before You Die" that he chose to do.
But rather than an informed Michael Palin-esque trip to perform these activities, he goes to these locations to do these activities - and other things not on the Bucket List - with hilarious, laugh-till-you-cry results.
And now, rather than just watch Karl's adventures on TV, you can read about them in his equally hilarious new book "The Further Adventures of An Idiot Abroad" in which he recounts what he did on each trip, each trip having a chapter to itself. But this book is not just him merely telling us what we have already seen on the TV. No, he also tells us about things which happened on the trips but which weren't shown on TV and he often goes into hilarious musings about things which entered into head that are connected with something he mentioned on the trip - for example, he writes a few daft lines about volcanoes whilst telling us about his flight over a volcano in Vanuatu. Also included in the book if full transcriptions of certain conversations between Karl and some of the people he meets on his journeys around the world, conversations which we hear on the TV series, but these transcripts often include bits which were cut out of the TV series.
He tells readers, amongst other things, of when he met a magnetic man on the Trans-Siberian Railway and when, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's trip to space, he went on a centrifuge at a Russian space centre. He tells us of the Vanuatan tribe which worships Prince Philip and he gives us his funny opinion of it, and he also tells us of his "great" invention which he invented whilst climbing Mount Fuji - Pilko's Pump Pants. He recounts some of the wacky Americans he met along Route 66 - like the woman who organises "cuddle parties" - and when he was forced, embrassingly for him, to dance in a Glee show in America on stage in front of an audience even though he didn't know what he was doing! These are just some of the things he gets up to on his trips around the world.
Karl's writing is excellent and very clear. The editor has taken the decision to leave his accented writing style alone, which I applaud, as it is easier to imagine Karl saying it in his Manchester accent, and is just more true to life - 'My Mum' becomes 'Me Mam' for example.
What really comes through in this book is Karl's absolute genius of making the mundane seem interesting, by looking at it in his own unique way. There is almost a laugh, or an insightful observation on each page. One example is when he writes of his time in the US, and performing the 'Glee' style dance. He says he struggled to keep in time with the other dancers, and was always slightly late with his moves. He didn't see it as a bad thing though, because he said he saw it as if he was performing a catch-up service for those that blink!
And, of course, Karl Pilkington just wouldn't be Karl Pilkington if he didn't have a little moan about this and that (Ricky Gervais finds it hilarious to see his best friend suffering on his foreign trips!), and that is precisely what he gets up to in this book - but each moan is, of course, very funny.
Also, every two or three pages or so in the book, Karl has also decided to write a little something about some of the 100 other things that appeared on the Bucket List, the things that he didn't choose to do, so you hear his hilarious opinions on having tea with the Queen, go bull running in Pamplona, go storm chasing in Tornado Alley, jump from a plane and bungee jumping (which Ricky and Steve try to get Karl to do three times in An Idiot Abroad 2).
The book also shows what a brilliant writer Karl is, especially for someone who had never written a book before he became famous. Other books by Karl to look out apart from this book and his previous book on the first series of An Idiot Abroad are
"The World of Karl Pilkington",
"Happyslapped by a Jellyfish", and
"Karlology: What I've Learnt So Far".
With the TV series "An Idiot Abroad 3" having been released at the end of last year - in which Karl and his dwarf friend Warwick Davis travel by bicyle, with Warwick in the basket like E.T., along the silk road from Italy to China - expect him to soon release another book about that trip.