Karl Pilkington

He is a man with a head like a f*cking orange.
It's a fact.

More about the new HBO/Pilkington show here...
In an attempt to keep his TV winning streak intact, Gervais and Merchant are readying a 13-episode animated series for HBO featuring Karl Pilkington. He's a recurring personality on Gervais' podcast, which has gained for itself (and for Pilkington) a cult following worldwide.

"I'm just so excited about it because the world is going to get another Homer Simpson in Karl Pilkington, and unlike Homer who's really 20 writers and an actor doing a voice, you can meet Karl Pilkington. That's the joy, that he's real. Karl is not a comedian. He's just a strange, round-headed little oddity."

The series will be called The Ricky Gervais Show but that's something of a ruse, or "a Trojan horse" as he calls it, to get Pilkington some play on U.S. TV screens.

"I just want Karl to be famous because I know he'll hate it," says Gervais with a cackle. "That's the fun for me. I want people to be shouting at him on the street: `Karl, you've got a round head.' That's what friends are for."

From Ricky Gervais' blog:

"As you may have read, HBO have ordered 13 half hour episodes of the animated audiobooks. We've started already with about 25 animators working on different bits to get the series ready for the end of the year."

That means Karl will be on HBO!! With animation!!
More from Gervais' blog:

"Signed off on the audio for the first episode of the HBO animation. It only just sunk in today how exciting this project is. Millions of pounds are being spent on animating the ramblings of a village idiot. That's amazing to me. All the press says that it will be out next year but it may be the end of this year actually. We are now negotiating selling it to the rest of the world as the HBO deal only covers US and Canada. So wherever you are, you will be able to watch."

"If you live in a glass house, don't be chucking stuff about."

"I find that if you just talk, your mouth comes up with stuff."

"Why don't you ever see an old man eating a Twix?"

"Art is just something for your eyes to look at."

"What were those things in "Gremlins" called?"

"Does the brain control you or are you controlling the brain? I don't know if I'm in charge of mine."

"I was still using my eyes even though I had 'em shut." (Karl was attempting to visualize, but was instead trying to see through his closed eye-lids).

"Woke up at 9.55am. Soon as I woke up, I looked at Suzanne and she looked at me. I said, "Did I tell you about the immune system?" Suzanne starting laughing, I said it's amazing. She said, "Not now."

"I could eat a knob at night."

"[Jellyfish] are 97% water or something, so how much are they doing? Just give them another 3% and make them water. It's more useful."

"Today's cure is tomorrow's legache."

"(Babies) are not tough any more"

The Short Version (aka FROM WIKIPEDIA):

Pilkington reached new heights of fame by commenting that he could "Eat a knob at night" during a discussion on the podcast The Ricky Gervais Show when a conversation about how contestants on I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! had to eat a kangaroo's penis. Karl stated that, whilst in the morning he would be unable to face the appendage due to having a weak stomach, he would more than likely be able to eat it in the evening, 'when he had some rice or something on his stomach to bulk it up'. His phrase "I could eat a knob at night" has since spawned dance music remixes, T-shirts and other merchandise, as well as discussion on many websites. A newspaper commenting on this issue described Pilkington as a "phenomenon" who had made "Internet history".

"No, it's perfectly round, your head. Perfectly spherical head, your face is slightly too big for it, it always goes over the, almost goes over the sides. Perfectly round head, um, pug little nose, funny gimp eyes with no expression, hangdog look, like a little mouth, like a little lamp ray, not formed, not human formed, the way your expression, is, it is like you've had a lobotomy, your head goes weird at the back, it's got a little nod in it, uh, it's really strange, your face. And you're stupid."

Karl has a broken boiler and it's been the bane of his existence for years now. He claims he can't find anyone to fix it because it's so old. One repairman came out to Karl's flat (twice) to look at it and said it was a "danger."

There's a great page on Karl here on this Ricky Gervais fan-site.

Karl met Suzanne when they worked together. She lent him some change to buy a hot-chocolate and he thought to himself: "She's alright." They've been together for years and although I've never met her or even seen a photo of her, we can assume her to be a highly patient and kind woman.