Americans are most familiar with Karl Pilkington from the Ricky Gervais Show podcast — later turned into an animated HBO series — in which Gervais and co-host Stephen Merchant mostly cackle at Pilkington’s observations and unique outlook on life. But over in the UK, Pilkington is kind of a big deal, and has released six books over the past decade, as well as appearing or starring in a handful of television series.
Pilkington has a new book coming out, More Moaning (based on the titles of both his previous book and television series), which he promoted this week on ITV’s This Morning with hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield. It’s unclear if this was a nugget of wisdom gleaned from this new book, but Schofield made the mistake (?) of asking Pilkington about the hot water bottle he keeps in his car.
Yes, Karl. Do go on about the hot water bottle you keep in your car. “Is there anything worse than being stuck in a car when you need to go?” Pilkington starts off, like he’s selling a great pitch to investors. “So, always have a hot water bottle under the passenger seat. And it’s ideal for relieving yourself into because it holds a lot of liquid.”
At this point Willoughby and Schofield are in a state of perfect British aghast, with Schofield’s hand clapped over his mouth as Pilkington continued on:
“The top bit, the actual lip of the water bottle is quite — you can’t, you’re not gonna spill. It’s not like a bottle, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried it in a bottle, I’ve done that a lot when I’m camping. But a water bottle you’ve got a rim there and it’s very easy. Not for you! [gesturing to Willoughby] But honest to god, just have it there. Just have it.
So like… He’s not a real person, right? “Karl Pilkington” is a completely fabricated personality, right? That’s the only explanation I have for this.