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| Gervais |
Idiot Abroad is a travel
show on the Science Channel. I just moved and now have AT&T U-Verse
and am exposed to more cable…lucky me. I
knew about this program from my brother and mother, big Ricky Gervais fans. I know,
what does Ricky have to do with travel?
Let me explain….
Ricky is a brilliant talent known in the US
mainly as the creator of The Office.
He’s English and has created many shows in addition to the global
phenomenon of The Office. He’s funny,
but I wouldn’t call him a comic. He’s
been in film, but I don’t consider him an actor. He’s a humorist with business savvy and has a
penchant ffor the uncomfortable. He
actually had a hit song in the late 80’s and/or early 90’s. Talented guy.
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| Stephen, Karl and Ricky |
So, as Ricky has become more powerful in the
entertainment industry, he’s been able to create projects. His business and writing partner is Stephen Merchant, who is visible in
most Gervais projects. They have a mate,
co-worker and friend named Karl Pilkington, who is now the “idiot” star of a travel show. If you watch the show, you would assume Karl
is some normal chap plucked from the streets of Manchester, England and thrown
into a whirlwind travel escapade. He’s
all that, but he knows Ricky and Stephen from producing their radio show and does
have some entertainment industry savvy.
The premise of the show is to send Karl off
to see the Seven Wonders of the World and view his discomfort. I’ve not been tuned into all of Ricky’s entertainment
portfolio, but I do know Karl has been elevated to notoriety through various
projects. Karl is funny because Ricky
and Stephen think he’s funny. In short,
they think Karl is a typical Englishman and has rather simple views on life and
the world. As Ricky states in the show
intros, his goal is to see Karl completely uncomfortable and that makes him
laugh.
The show is well produced and we get to see
parts of the world not familiar to most (unless you live in those parts of the
world). Instead of staying in posh hotels, they make Karl stay in the more “grim”
areas of famous cities and travel in more rustic modes (i.e. camel’s across a
dessert in Jordan). There are several
episodes showing Karl’s jaunts to see the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal
and the pyramids of Egypt. None of these
impress Karl. The wall in China has been
reconstructed in the twentieth century and he didn’t appreciate being on a tour
bus with non-English speaking Chinese.
He thought the pyramids were big, but noted the base of them are much
larger than the pinnacles. Additionally,
there was a lot of rubbish and garbage around the site.
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| Petra |
Karl is funny. He isn’t impressed with what we all think we
should be impressed with. He does,
however, make some profound comments on cities and the general vibe. When he visited the holy land, his trip
started in Israel and when he had to go through the wall/checkpoint to
Bethlehem, he was more moved by the sobering experience of the wall rather than
the birthplace of Jesus. In Jordan, he visits
Petra, an ancient city carved in massive rocks.
It’s truly amazing to see, even from television. Ricky and Stephen inform Karl he needs to
travel to Petra on camel. After 8 hours
one day, the camels break down.
Literally, they just stopped walking.
The next day, Karl refused to get back on a camel and travelled the rest
of the journey by auto. Once he’s there,
he admits it’s neat. The next “order”
from Ricky and Stephen was for Karl to spend the night there, but in a
cave. Initially he’s totally annoyed
with the concept. After sitting with residents
of Petra, who live in caves, he’s amazed they can receive mail. Honestly, he was more profoundly affected by
the efficiency of mail delivery to caves than the wonder itself. Once he nestled in for the night, he was
quite pleased. He said he could live in
a cave and is amazed with how civilization even occurred in the first
place. He ponders if he were a caveman,
not much progress would have been made.
This is an observation I’ve made about myself over the years.
The entire series is like this. While the concept is somewhat cruel, we see
Karl live up to initial expectations while making some valuable observations at
the same time. It’s as if he’s learning,
but reluctantly. The viewer is
uncomfortably amused while learning about remote corners of the world. I loved my marathon afternoon of watching the
show. It’s hard to watch Karl’s
discomfort and not personalize a reaction.
How would I feel? Would I eat
what he’s forced to eat? Would I
secretly be disappointed with the attractions or love the experience?
I’ve started watching Bordain’s No Reservations again. Great
exposure to travel and food, but it lacks the raw honesty of Idiot Abroad. I can’t wait to see more.
